CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(Monographs) 


ICIMH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  Microraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


*"  V*  '-V^*»^"^^I*  '^>  *  i- " 


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'^-i    -&'^i:,?^HM^'Sfi^A>k.Itikz^!f'if^^^ 


I 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 


0 


[Zl 


a 

D 


D 


n 


Coloured  covers  / 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged  / 


Couverture  endommag§e 


I      I    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 


Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul^e 
I    Cover  title    .issing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 
j I   Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  geographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material  / 
Relie  avec  d'autres  documents 

Only  edition  available  / 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serr6e  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int^rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  Use  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajoutdes  tors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  etS  film^es. 

Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
etd  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sont  peut-gtre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  m6tho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 

I      I   Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I    Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommagees 


D 


Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaurees  et/ou  pellicul^es 


0    Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  d^color^es,  tacheties  ou  piqu^es 

Pages  detached  /  Pages  detachees 

\/     Showthrough  /  Transparence 

I      I   Quality  of  print  varies  / 


n 


D 


Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl6mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  6\6  filmies  k  nouveau  de  fagon  k 
obtenir  la  meilieure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
film^es  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilieure  image 
possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checlced  below  / 

Ce  document  est  filme  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqui  ci-dessous. 

10x                             14x                            18x 

22x 

26x 

30x 

1 
1 

y 

, 

12x 

16x 

20x 

24x 

28x 

32x 

The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Harold  Campbell  Vaughan  Memorial  Library 
Acadia  University 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion  and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  Illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 

T?M  .f^?M^'"  ^^^  symbol  -*►  (meaning  "COIVI- 
TINUED   ),  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END") 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  film*  fut  reprodult  grAce  i  la 
g*n*rositt  de: 

Harold  Campbell  Vaughan  Memorial  Library 
Acadia  University 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t«  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin.  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet*  de  I'exemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformit*  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
■iimage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim*e  sont  film*s  en  commencant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  una  empreinte 
d  impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film*s  en  commencant  par  la 
premi*re  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d  impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
derniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE"  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

hf'f^A^f'  P'«"«='^"'  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  *tre 
film6s  *  des  taux  de  r*duction  diff*rents 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  *tre 
reproduit  en  un  seut  clich*,  il  est  film*  *  partir 
de  I  angle  sup*rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  *  droite 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n6cessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  m*thode. 


MICROCOPY    RESOLUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


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I.I 


1.25 


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2.5 


II  2.2 
1 2.0 

1.8 
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'^•vii^r'i'JSrli-^". 


THE  NEWTON  CHAPEL 


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■iS^i^Tme^i&^^rmnr^^sses^^ 


THE  CHAPEL 

HIE  NEWTON    rilEOU)(;IC\L  I NSTITITION 
NFWTON  (JE.NTEH,  MAS3. 


1 


.-.^'^^r^-f'i:^-. 


THE 
NEWTON  CHAPEL 


I 


CHAPEL  TALKS 


By 


MEMBERS  OF  THE  FACULTY  OF 
THE  NEWTON  THEOLOGICAL  INSTITUTION 


PHILADELPHIA 


BOSTON 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE    JUDSON    PRESS 


CHICAGO 
KANSAS  CITY 


ST.  LOUIS 
SEATTLE 


i 


NEW  YORK 
TORONTO 


I! 


)| 


J 1^  f 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
GILBERT  N.  BRINK.  Skcr.tahv 

Published  February.  19M 


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FOREWORD 


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^™ane„t  fo™  the  chapel  kddCTon^  ,  1?  A 

-::rji:tr"'--°---c;.hi 

speaker  after  delivery.  °"*  ^^  ^^'^ 

in  !t'.T''^'^  ""^"'^"^  ^"^^«*^d  an  arrangement 

mZ.T.T'''  ''^  *°^^^«  °^  *^^  Christ'afyear 
This  obviates  the  necessity  of  an  index 

•^t  IS  by  no  means  clear  that  the  verdict  of  thp  r. 
ligious  public  will  affree  w,>»,  ^u  IT  ^^' 


Ht31o 


ti!;2<?;^A»:fc?i^-':;:^: 


Foreword 


Apart,  however,  from  any  wo:  h  this  volume  may 
have  in  itself,  the  Newton  Faculty  hopes  that  these 
pages  may  bring  to  Newton  men  doing  pastoral  and 
missionary  work  in  every  land  the  memory  of  inspir- 
ing student  days,  and  happily  interpret  the  present 
temper  and  outlook  of  the  seminary. 

George  Edwin  Horr, 

President  of  The  Newton 

Theological  Institution. 
January,  1920. 


11^ 


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:<?^ 


,ste|f*J:"wi.Tf 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 
TALKS  IN  THE  NEWTON  CHAPEL 

I.  THE  Meaning  op  the  New  Year  Presi-'"' 

TT    .,  ^^"*  ^^°^««  E.  Horr,  D.  D.,  LL.  D  3 

il.     Daily  Selp-surpast,"  Professor  Rich- 
ard  M.  Vaughan,  D.  D. 

III.  HOW  JESUS  LOOKED  AT  Me>'    Professor 

HinfredN.  Donovan,  D.D  i, 

IV.  THE  Compelling  Power  op  Jesus' Per- 

SONAUTY,  Professor  Henry  K.  Rowe, 

V.  CONTAGION,    Professor    Woodman  'Brad^  '' 

bury,  D.  D. . . . 

VL  FREEDOM  AND  SERVICE. '  Prof essor  James  '' 

P.  Berkeley,  A.  M „„ 

Vn.  THE  POWER  OP  A  FEW.  Prof essor  Frcder: 

ick  L.  Anderson,  D.  D .^ 

VIIL  THE  Most  High,  Professor  Samuer  S 

Curry.  LL.  D 

IX.  The  GREAT  Revelation,  President' George 

E.  Horr,  D.  D.,  LL.  D...  34 


ji 

m 
m 


1.4 1 

h 

m 


Contents 

Pai.« 

X.  The  Inner  Life,  Professor  Samuel  S. 

Curry,  LL.  D ^8 

XI.  THE  DYNAMIC  Jesus,  Professor  Henry 

K.  Rowe,  Ph.  D 41 

XII.  The  Secret  of  Christianity,  President 

George  E.  Horr,  D.  D.,  LL.  D 45 

XIII.  House  as  a  Biblical  Symbol,  Professor 

Samuel  S.  Curry,  LL.  D 49 

XIV.  The  Gospel  of  Law,  Professor  James 

P.  Berkeley,  A.  M ^^ 

XV.  The    Sinfulness    of   Sin,    Professor 

Frederick  L.  Anderson,  D.  D 54 

XVI.  The   Joy   of   Forgiveness,   Professor 

Frederick  L.  Anderson,  D.  D 61 

XVII.  Quench  Not  the  Spirit,  Professor 

Richard  M.  Vaughan,  D.  D 66 

XVIII.  Doubt   in   the   Seminary,   Professor 

Frederick  L.  Anderson,  D.  D 7^ 

XIX.  The  Method  of  Spiritual  Certainty, 
President    George    E.    Horr,    D.  D., 

LL.  D '^ 

XX.  The  Robustness  of  Faith,  Professor 

Woodman  Bradbury,  D.  D ^ 

XXI.  THE  Liberty  of  Power,  Professor 

James  P.  Berkeley,  A.  M ^ 

XXII.  The  Spirit  of  Expectation,  Professor 
Richard  M.  Vaughan,  D.  D ^ 


i 


Contents 

XXIII.  James  Russell  Lowell  and  the 

Preacher,  Professor  Woodman 
Bradbury,  D.  D 93 

XXIV.  How  Men  See  God,  Professor  Win^ 

fred  N.  Donovan,  D.  D gg 

XXV.  Dramatic  or  Artistic  Exegesis? 

Professor  Samuel  S.  Curry,  LL.  d!  102 
XXVI.  Using  Our  Wealth,  Professor  Win- 

fred  N.  Donovan  D.  D 109 

XXVII.  The  Allegoric  Spirit  of  the  Bible, 

Professor  Samuel  S.  Curry,  LL.  D.'  112 
XXVIII.  The  First  Disciples  and  the  Resur- 
recti  ON,  President  George  E. 

Horr,  D.  D.,  LL.  D hq 

XXIX.  The  Inevitable  Immortality,  Pro- 

fessor  Winfred  N.  Donovan,  D.  D..  122 
XXX.  The  World's  Tribute  to  Worth, 
Professor  Woodman  Bradbury' 

^•^ '125 

XXXI.  The  Place  op  Jesus  in  Modern  Life, 
Professor  Richard  M.  V  a  u  g  h  a  n' 
D.D '^29 

XXXII.  Righteous  Indignation  Against  So- 
c  I A  L  Sin,  Professor  Henry  K. 

Rowe,  Ph.  D "  J34 

XXXIII.  The  Irrepressible  Conflict,  Pro- 
fessor Henry  K.  Rowe,  Ph.  D 133 


Contents 


PART  11 

ADDRESSES  AT  THE  CONFERENCE  OF  THE 
BAPTIST  LEADERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND 

I.  OuB  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus,  Pro- 
fessor Frederick  L.  Anderson,  D.  D 145 

II.  The  Call  to  the  Church  for  Recon- 
structive Work,  Professor  Winfred  N. 
Donovan,  D.  D 165 

in.  Making  Christianity  Efficient,  Presi- 
dent George  E.  Horr,  D.  D.,  LL.  D 172 

IV.  The  Leadership  of  Ministers  in  Social 
Reconstruction,  Professor  Henry  K. 
Rowe,  Ph.  D 196 

V.  The  Place  of  the  Bible  in  Leadership 
OF  Thought,  Professor  James  P.  Berke- 
ley, A.  M 212 

VL  The  Leadership  of  the  Minister  in 
Theology,  Professor  Richard  M. 
Vaughan,  D.  D 239 

VIL  Power  for  Leadership,  Professor  Wood- 
man Bradbury,  D.  D 270 


I 


THE  MEANING  OF  THE  NEW  YEAR 
mZm    A.      I      '  '■''"'""»"  ■""  Christ  sum. 

!  We  see  that  the^^^  T'"  "'  '™"  '»«• 
than  the  gift  of  I  tiSl.,!  "  *°!'*'  ''  ""'"y  "o™ 
exalted,  o^  of  a  »„l/T '"'!'''■ "°  "■''««^  h"^ 

can  bepreciseI;e^a'^^'    tZ  r"  "'  ""* 
an  opportanitv  of  ",.'."*  """''«»  Privilege, 

our  calculations  to  forecast.  ^'^^'"  ^* 

Yet,  when  this  revelaf  inr,  ^.. 

»°«  natural  than  1^^117"  "''  '"'^'  ''' 
of  the  spirit  with  ti,„      ^  '.*°'^  ""^  Possibilities 

"■anliv^arerh  0  *      w'^""'  '"  *'^''=''  ™'  h- 

things  to  do  h:;■s::::L^;X^^Th"'^'■f"«'- 

our  daily  brear?  «.«  u    ^  We  have  to  earn 

Parents,^as  XnT  tl  ptl^f™?*-  ^ 

pressure  of  a  struggle  for 

3 


4  The  Meaning  of  the  New  Tear 

existenee  tells  on  the  brain  and  heart  of  most  of  us. 
Often  we  are  near  the  breaking-point  with  toil  and 
care  and  dismal  anticipations  of  what  the  days  may 
bring.  How  can  we  find  time  or  strength  to  live  the 
spiritual  life?  Is  it  possible  for  any  one  but  a 
minister,  or  a  poet,  or  a  person  of  leisure?  The  an- 
swer to  such  questions  is  so  simple  that  sometimes 
its  very  obviousness  may  lead  us  to  overlook  it. 
These  engagements  of  life  are  the  very  arena  on 
which  the  higher  spiritual  experiences  are  to  be 
achieved.  In  a  business  college  extensive  transac- 
tions are  carried  on  by  the  aid  of  counters  that  take 
the  place  of  actual  money.  By  this  practice  the 
pupil  acquires  the  knowledge  and  discipline  that 
will  fit  him  to  manage  real  business  conducted  by 
real  money  or  credit. 

The  relation  of  the  outward  life  of  the  home,  the 
shop,  the  office,  to  the  inner  life  of  the  spirit  is  the 
relation  of  the  business  college  to  the  actual  trans- 
actions of  commerce.  It  matters  comparatively  lit- 
tle what  are  the  disappointments  and  hardships  of 
the  school,  if  the  pupil  acquires  the  discipline  that 
iits  him  for  the  actual  conduct  of  affairs.  The  toil, 
the  anxiety,  the  material  conditions  of  the  outer  life 
only  reveal  their  true  significance  when  we  regard 
them  as  the  providential  discipline  by  which  God  is 
training  the  spirit.  So  far  from  its  being  true  that 
"  being  good  "  is  something  apart  from  the  work  of 


ll 


P^FJ^c^P 


Th.  Heanlng  of  th«  New  Tear  5 

at  ail     The  outer    fe^,r  "''"'"  "8»«4>e.." 

»<i  womanhood,  of  character,  of  toe     "/, 
spiritual  attainment.  *'"'  ■"«« 

Reflections  iike  these  indicate  on,  -.1.1    i. 
tude  toward  the  year  just  op^m/"ts  cS  !?  T 
to  »3  is  it,  spiritual  opportu^t^  'a  llfZ.T" 
we  may  be  richer  or  Poorer  W^  wra^""*""" 
stronger  in  body  or  weak.-  »,™   .  *°^'" 

obscure.    Whatever  X„         T"  ^*"«'"  »■■  "ore 
»ot  inte;pr^  »:  «au,^'r'''  ""^  '^'  *'^  ""' 

Will  only  ^rev^f'Tr'*"'""*^*^'-   ^* 
tests     If  r  ^  **  application  of  ft- 

tests.    If  the  year  makes  us  more  Diiti»„*  .  .. 
rageous,  with  a  purer  zeal  f^TZ  "^  "'"■ 

consciousness  of  d^lfJinl  v        "'"'''  "■"  « 

^^  to  gather  the  choicest  fruitage  of  the 

G.  K.  H. 


II 


"  DAILY  SELF-SURPAST  " 

THERE  is  a  phrase  of  Wordsworth  which  has 
made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind.  It  is 
found  in  the  closing  lines  of  his  poem,  **  Char- 
acter of  the  Happy  Warrior."  In  this  poem  Words- 
worth presents  io  us  his  conception  of  the  ideal 
man.  I  am  told  that  the  poem  is  a  great  favorite 
with  President  Woodrow  Wilson,  and  that  he  often 
reads  it  to  his  family  and  to  his  friends.  The 
phrase  to  which  I  have  reference  is  this — ^"  daily 
self-surpast."  Let  me  quote  the  lines  in  which  the 
phrase  occurs: 

Who,  not  content  that  former  worth  stand  fast, 
Looks  forward,  perseveririj?  to  the  last 
From  well  to  better,  daily  wli-f urpast ; 


This  is  the  Happy  Warrior;  this  is  he 
That  every  man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be. 

Rivalry  is  an  important  factor  in  human  experi- 
ence. We  find  that  others  are  engaged  in  similar 
lines  of  activity  with  ourselves  and  there  are  im- 
pulses within  us  which  lead  us  to  try  to  surpass 
6 


-"v'JrA^r^ 


"J>*ily8elf.Surpafc- 


petition  will  always  TaL;!  *^ '""•'"•    C<""- 
thoujh  we  hope  C  .^willt  rV",  S"™"  '"''  «'• 

ieve..  0,  brutT  jvLi'e':xM^r:;i"": 

service.    There  ii  a  h^^nu*  i  °^  *^'«' 

hannfu.  pe^onal  »t.  Jnisr  Rtl~  l'"'" 
too  often  faib  to  take  ae«>„nf  T  ?  """'''' 
We  n,ay  do  far  ''^TjZZtlrTyJt^T"'- 
far  in  advance  of  uc  n  i.  onethi?  /  .  **  '"*"y 
head  of  .  fci,h^h„    "  1  of*  K  a  d?"'"*' 

Of  hundreds  of  men  in  college. 
Why  not  think  of  our  real  rAm«.»** 

-then^tLx'^zr-r.'i^tfiw";' 

occupy  the  lower  plae^  ^„t  "  ""'  '^^■ 

ciass  can  bea^himt  f  The  f,;  JenT"  '"  '"^ 
«ot  accumulate  as  many  tetn^  as  ^^^r?  ,"'" 
■"an-that  is  not  to  be  expe^^  b,  't  """' 
Ave  talents  today  can  hawt^vt'  '  "^  '^«' 

the  day  afte/mdTi^    f-       '°™™"^.  and  seven 
''  ""*  '"  ^"^  t™e  ten.    Divine  percent- 


i^JiiiiiiKasW 


8 


"Daily  Self-Surpast" 


ages  are  based  on  the  men  we  are  to  start  with.  If 
we  are  faithful  in  doubling  our  talents,  one,  two, 
four,  eight,  we  will  in  time  reach  the  mathematical 
infinities,  far  surpassing  the  man  who  began  with 
many  talents  but  failed  to  invest  them.  But  our 
primary  and  our  sole  duty  is  to  surpass  ourselves. 

The  possibility  of  a  real  failure  in  the  rivalry  of 
the  real  self  and  the  possible  self  confronts  every  one 
of  us.  Jesus  told  us  of  a  man  who  lost  his  talent 
because  he  failed  to  increase  it.  We  can  fall 
below  the  level  of  yesterday  in  the  clearness  with 
which  we  discern  our  ideals  and  in  the  loyalty  with 
which  we  follow  them.  "You  should  have  mar- 
ried a  better  man,"  said  a  drunken  Scot  to  his  wife 
in  the  penitence  which  marked  the  sobering-up 
period.  "  I  did,  Jamie,"  she  sadly  replied.  He  had 
failed  to  surpass  himself.  Not  all  theological  stu- 
dents keep  on  gi-owing.  The  dean  of  one  of  our 
seminaries  used  to  say  that  many  a  man  is  intel- 
lectually and  spiritually  poorer  ten  years  after  he 
leaves  the  seminary  than  he  was  within  its  halls. 
He  does  not  read  the  significant  books  nor  keep  in 
touch  with  the  vital  movements  of  his  time.  Often 
he  lapses  back  into  the  crude  views  of  his  child- 
hood. When  Paul  was  a  child  he  thought  as  a 
child,  but  when  he  became  a  man  he  put  away 
childish  things.  Here  in  the  seminary  are  men 
whose  pi  ogress  is  truly  wonderful.     Occasionally 


i^v'^,. 


^r^Sp-^: 


^?C7.iv^ 


••  Daily  Self-Surpast"  9 

there  is  a  man  who  drifts  along;  he  "gets  by,"  but 
ne  does  not  surpass  himself. 

How  is  a  man  to  know  that  he  is  winning  in  this 
contest  with  himself?    Physical  growth  admits  of 
exact  measurement.    In  every  well-appointed  home 
there  is  a  door-jamb  with  an  ascending  series  of 
pencil  marks  upon  it.    The  boy  stretched  himself 
up  against  it  from  time  to  time  and  had  his  height 
registered.    He  is  gone  now.  perhaps  he  is  in  war- 
swept  France,  but  there  on  the  door-jamb  is  the 
silent  and  beautiful  witness  how  ho  passed  th-ough 
boyhood  on   into  manhood.     But  where  are  the 
standards  by  which  to  measure  the  growth  of  the 
higher  nature?   There  are  certain  broad  tests  which 
may  be  applied.    We  can  take  account  of  our  stock 
of  knowledge  and  find  it  less  or  more  than  yester- 
day.    It  IS  true  that  we  forget  much  even  while 
we  accumulate,  but  education  is  creation  of  fields 
of  interest  rather  than  mere  acquisition  of  infor- 
mation. 

In  the  distinctively  spiritual  realm  the  problem 
of  awards  in  the  contest  with  the  self  of  yesterday 
IS  still  more  difficult.  An  increasing  moral  sensi- 
tiveness  ,s  one  evidence  of  growth.  Are  new  tracts 
of  hfe  being  brought  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Christian  spirit?  We  see  now  that  we  were  dull 
and  selfish  in  the  things  which  we  once  did.  Thus 
our  very  progress  b>  ings  a  deeper  humility     Paul 


10 


"  Daily  Self-Surpast' 


was  a  man  daily  self-surpast,  yet  he  declared  that 
he  had  not  attained,  that  he  was  rhief  of  sinners. 
This  humility  was  not  inconsistent  with  the  con- 
sciousness that  Christ  lived  in  him  and  that  he 
had  labored  more  abundantly  than  had  the  other 
apostles.    We  may  ask  ourselves  also  if  the  spirit 
of  service  possesses  us  in  larger  measure.    If  we 
are  becoming  spiritually  mature  we  care  less  and 
less  for  mere  name  and  gain  and  more  and  more 
simply  to  be  helpful  to  our  fellow  men.    Above  all, 
we  may  test  ourselves  by  our  appreciations  of 
Jesus.    The  years  must  bring  increasing  admira- 
tion for  him,  increasing  loyalty  and  love,  if  we  are 
truly  in  the  way  of  life. 

The  open  pathway  after  all  to  a  life  daily  self- 
surpast  is  self-forgetful  devotion  to  the  service  of 
Christ.    It  is  not  well  to  engage  in  overmuch  in- 
trospection.   We  must  look  out  and  not  in,  and  lend 
a  hand.    There  is  something  for  us  to  learn  from 
Wilberforce's  reply  to  an  inquiry  concerning  his 
soul  to  the  effect  that  he  was  so  busy  with  tasks  of 
human  welfare  that  he  had  forgotten  that  he  had 
one.    In  any  event,  there  is  a  certain  objectivity 
which  characterizes  all  wholesome  living.     Obey 
the  laws  of  growth  and  leave  the  results  to  God. 
If  we  follow  Jesus  m  faithful  devotion  to  duty  we 
may  be  sure  that,  like  the  Happy  Warrior,  we  shall 
be  daily  self-surpast. 

R.  M.  V. 


'^%■.^.:^ 


III 


-: 


HOW  JESUS  LOOKED  AT  MExN 

IT  is  F.  W.  Robertson,  I  think,  who  comments 
that  Jesus  always  viewed  a  human  being  as 
salvable.     He  estimated  life,  not  in  terms  of 
♦le  present,  but  of  the  future.    Where  others  saw 
jnly  a  wreck,  he  saw  the  wreck  made  once  more 
mto  a  buoyant  ship.    The  group  of  parables  in  Luke 
fifteen  finds  its  point  in  this  view.    A  lost  coin  is 
not  so  interesting  in  itself.    A  lost  coin  that  can  be 
found  attracts  energetic  seekers.    It  is  the  quest 
that  gives  zest.    There  is  fascination  in  the  idea  of 
retrieving  loss  or  disaster.    So  with  the  sheep  or 
son  that  has  strayed.    The  interest  centers  in  the 
possibility  of  recovery.    The  conception  of  redemp- 
tion  has  its  charm. 

Take  now  some  instances  of  Jesus'  dealings  with 
men.  He  was  not  so  much  attracted  by  the  skinflint 
tax-gatherer.  Zacchgeus.  But  a  Zacchaus  remade 
a  liberal,  loyal  son  of  Abraham,  such  a  possibility 
enlisted  the  Son  of  God.  The  Pharisees  once  saw 
a  wretched  woman  cowering  in  her  shame.  They 
saw  the  present  fact.     He  saw  the  woman  who 

11 


12 


How  Jesus  Looked  at  Men 


should  sin  no  more,  the  triumph  of  the  future 
Others  shuddered  at  the  demoniac.  Jesus  saw  the 
man  restored  and  giving  glory  to  God.  The  men 
about  the  Master  were  like  curious  visitors  to  a  dev- 
astated area.  His  view  was  that  of  the  architect 
who  sees  the  town  that  shall  rise,  hears  the  hum 
of  Its  machinery,  and  plans  for  the  children  who 
shall  throng  the  restored  streets. 

Students  of  our  time  say  that  one  of  its  char- 
acteristics is  a  decreased  dependence  on  the  power 
of  God  to  transform  a  degraded  life.    You  and  I 
need  then  to  get  the  habit  of  Jesus  to  see  in  the  most 
repulsive  man  not  only  his  present  degradation  but 
the  character  that  may  be  his.    We  are  often  told 
that  Jesus  preferred  the  outcasts  to  the  respectable 
people  of  his  time.    This  was  not  because  they  were 
outcasts,  however,  but  because  he  saw  to  what  they 
might  be  won.    With  him  ever  was  the  conscious- 
ness  and  the  delight  of  his  redemptive  mission. 
"  For  God  sent  not  the  Son  into  the  worid  to  judge 
the  world;  but  that  the  worid  should  be  saved 
through  him."    "I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me." 

Jesus  saw  men  as  salvable.  He  saw,  too,  possi- 
bihties  of  usefulness  which  even  the  men  them- 
selves had  never  suspected.  Imagine  him  walking 
among  the  fisher  folk.  His  keen  glance  studies  the 
faces  and  notes  the  manner  of  the  men  at  work 


How  Jesus  Looked  at  Men  13 

To  two  of  them  he  puts  the  question.  "  If  you  had 
your  choice,  would  you  rather  catch  fish  or  men?" 
Life  never  shrinks  back  to  its  old  dimensions  for 
the  sons   of  Zebedee,   the   thunderers.     Here   is 
another  man.  one  who  is  laughed  at  as  an  impetu- 
ous   boastful  blunderer.     Jesus  looked  into  that 
heart  capable  of  such  devotion  later,  and  said. 
People  call  you  Simon  now,  but  you  will  yet  be 
known  as  the  Rock."    Peter  stood  straighter.    The 
rock  had  begun  to  form  in  his  character.     From 
that  day  dates  the  growth  of  the  Peter  to  whom  the 
keys  might  be  entrusted.    Men  marvel  that  Michel- 
angelo  could  see  the  angel  in  ttie  block  of  marble 
Jesus  saw  in  hmnanity  the  life  power  that  was  yet 
to  come  to  being. 

Within  sight  of  the  ravishing  verdure  of  Damas- 
cus one  day  a  bitter-hearted  man  heard  the  voice 
of  the  risen  Christ.  A  lite  hitherto  centered  at  the 
J.-rusalem  temple  expanded  to  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  as  Saul  th.  Pharisee  closed  his  eyes 
that  he  might  catch  the  vision  which  Jesus  had  for 
Paul  his  apostle. 

We  often  get  great  comfort  in  Rabbi  ben  Ezra's 
assurance  that  God  sees  us  as  we  are  and  values 
us  not  by  a  list  of  things  done. 

But  all  the  world's  coarse  thumb 
And  finger  failec  to  plumb, 


u 


How  Jesus  Looked  at  Men 


Thoughts  hardly  to  be  packed 
Into  a  narrow  act, 

All,  men  ignored  in  me, 

This.  I  was  worth  to  God,  whose  wheel  the  pitcher  shaped. 

Jesus,  however,  spoke,  and  still  speaks,  to  men 
not  of  what  they  could  never  be,  but  of  what  they 
can  be.  Moody.  Finney,  ball-player  Billy  Sunday 
have  heard  a  voice.  "Thou  art  Simon,  thou  shalt' 
be  Peter."  Perhaps  tiiere  are  men  in  the  chapel 
this  mommg  who  still  know  themselves  only  as 
Simon,  who  need  to  hear  the  new  name  that  shall 
be  theirs. 

Among  those  to  whom  we  minister  will  be  men 
and  women  whom  we  must  try  to  see  as  Jesus  sees 
them,  salvable.  There  will  be  others  for  whom  we 
must  also  catch  his  thought  of  unrealized  possi- 
bihties.  May  many  of  you  have  the  privilege  of 
Ananias  to  open  the  eyes  of  a  Saul,  who  through 
you  shall  apprehend  that  for  which  also  he  was 
apprehended  by  Christ  Jesus. 

W.  N.  D. 


IV 


THE  COMPELLING  POWER  OF  JESUS- 
PERSONALITY 

TENNYSON  has  given  us  i„  verse  the  sto.y 
of  Simeon,  the  ancient  pillar-saint.    He  pic- 
tures  him  standing  on  his  pedestal  with  the 
^pmg  crowd  around  him,  now  humble  as  hi  ttil 

with  pride  at  the  veneration  of  the  people 

Bv  IL   ^  ^y  ""•  ""'  ^"""  ""  ">»  "Xto  me.» 

tmctll  »'  "'  "''  "^"""^'"^  he  would  at- 
tract  them,  not  to  wm  their  admiration,  but  to  make 
them  like  himself.  It  is  that  matchles^  pe^onX 
of  Jesus  that  challenge  our  faith  and  love     nt 

st'retTb"''  ^"""  "'  *'*  '''^""^'"y  *'«'»  '^  «>« 
secret  of  his  success  as  a  founder  of  one  of  the 

world's  great  religions. 

Th?f' r  t"""^""™  "'  •'^"'^  ••^veal  this  power 
bv  thel?"'"  "'  ""'"'^  •'''^''^''  '"PP'omented 
^th  ,t      '^:i'™'  "'  *^''"^  "'  *'»^  conversations 

drew,  the  fisherman,  a  representative  of  the  honor- 


^^k^M^^L^lj^-:' 


16     The  Compelling  Power  of  Jesus'  Personality 

able  working  class  of  the  Jews.  Seeing  Jesus,  he 
accosted  him,  and  at  Jesus'  invitation  spent  the 
rest  of  the  day  with  him  in  his  traveler's  booth 
near  the  Jordan.  We  should  like  to  know  what  they 
talked  about  that  day.  Was  it  like  the  conversation 
on  the  road  to  Emmaus  after  the  crucifixion?  We 
cannot  know;  but  we  know  the  effect.  Andrew 
went  back  to  his  brother  Peter,  and  expressed  his 
conviction  that  he  had  found  the  Messiah. 

Then  there  was  Nathanael.  He  was  one  of  those 
respectable  skeptics  that  are  always  to  be  found. 
Philip  brought  his  friend  to  Jesus,  but  Nathanael 
took  the  attitude  that  he  must  be  shown  proof  of 
Messiahship.  With  a  word  Jesus  settled  his  doubts, 
and  there  seemed  to  pass  between  their  two  spirits 
one  of  those  hashes  of  insight  that  reveals  what  long 
argument  could  not  show. 

Still  another  was  Nicodemus,  the  theologian.  He 
was  an  aristocrat  of  the  Sanhedrin.  What  could 
Jesus  teach  him?  Yet  the  theologian  was  drawn 
to  visit  Jesus  under  cover  of  darkness,  honestly 
seeking  light,  or  in  an  endeavor  to  tie  Jesus  to  the 
system  of  the  Jewish  church.  And  he  asked  him 
the  meaning  of  spiritual  life.  As  usual  Jesus  went 
to  the  heart  of  the  matter  when  he  showed  Nico- 
demus that  life  etenial  comes  only  to  the  man  who 
cordially  accepts  Jesus  and  his  principles  of  ser- 
vice and  sacrifice,  and  gave  him  the  Magna  Charfa 


I 


The  Compelling  Power  of  Jesus'  Personality     17 

of  Christmnity  in  the  sixteenth  verse  of  the  third 
chapter  of  John.  "'"* 

We  ask  ourselves  the  secret  of  this  wonderful  in- 
nueiice  of  Jgsiiq  anA  h,„  ""iiuexim  in- 

n«ii^    J    ^'  "  '"'™'<"'  '^  "lat  Jesus  com- 

pelled admiration  and  lovaltv  hv  i,;. 
his  wnrrt=  .„j  u-    .7         ^    "  "'^  appearance, 

God.  I  l,ke  to  believe  that  he  looked  like  a  man"y 
man,  w,th  kingly  dignity  and  mien  divine,  so  ?hl 
we  can  speak  of  him  as  Virgil  spoke  of  the  °1 

ucton.       Thou  Shalt  see,"  he  assured  Nathanael 
He  hved  so  as  to  hold  these  men.    That  is  to  usTe 
most  significant  thing  about  the  powe    o^  j  * 
Other  men  have  won  friends  and  followers.    But' 

h :  ^h  rto't'r  Vd"  '^''- ''"''  -'« 

uiree  to  the  end.    Andrew  was  one  of  the 

1^1  rr''.  f  '"^  '"-'''■"■     NathanaefwL 
among  the  disciples  in  Galilee,  waiting  for  the  re- 

r  .  T  'T  '''''  "'^  "-esurrection.  Nicodemn" 
helped  Joseph  of  Arimathea  to  burv  the  todv  "f 
Jesus  after  even  Peter  had  denied  that  h^taew 
the  arrested  prophet. 

For  us  there  lies  hidden  this  profound  truth  in 
the  compelling  power  of  Jesus,  that  power  to  „" 
men  today  consists  not  in  efficient  orgaL  Ittol 
sk.lh>d  oratoiy,  or  even  campaigns  of  eCg^.s™' 
good  as  tney  may  be  as  far  as  they  go.  That  Mwe-^ 
.3  rathe^r  in  the  personal  contact  of  a  cJm^Z 


18    The  CompelUng  Power  of  Jeem'  Pcraonality 

has  spent  time  in  fellowship  with  Jesus,  who  has 
caught  his  spirit  of  love  for  mankind  and  longs  to 
share  his  experiences  with  others,  and  who  has 
become  wholly  mastered,  as  he  was  swayed,  by  the 
purpose  to  serve  and  sacrifice.  Looking  upon  him 
thus,  many  a  man  has  echoed  the  conviction  of  the 
Roman  centurion  at  the  foot  of  the  cross:  "Truly 
this  man  was  Son  of  God." 

H.  K.  R. 


\ 


CONTAGION 


Acta  5  .■  i^-ie 

T|HE  sick  people  in  this  narrative  were  the 
victims  of  contagion.  The  ancients  had 
plagues  and  knew  the  fearful  ravagss  of 
epid^nics  "The  terror  by  night,"  and  "ttede- 
sh-uction  that  wasteth  at  noonday"  are  vivid 
Phrases  which  recur  to  our  minds  as  the  influe,^ 
which  has  wrought  world-wide  havoc,  makes  it^ 

cumb,  whole  families  are  stricken,  communities  are 
decimated.    How  is  the  malady  propagated'    Thit 

For  other  maladies  besides  bodily  disease  are 
contagious.    The  evils  that  ruin  souls  and^L^! 

fects  beholders.     An   evil   person  is  pestilentU,. 

others.     Do  we  wonder  that  o„,.  neighbor,  are 

19 


20 


Contagion 


f: 


no  more  virtuous,  public-spirited,  or  high-minded"' 
The  reason  may  be  in  us!  Perhaps  we  are  aston- 
ished  that  cur  children  are  no  more  moral  and  re- 
ligious than  they  are;  may  it  not  be  because  of  the 
IK)or  examples  we  have  set?  Our  obiter  dicta,  our 
word  of  envy  of  the  rich,  the  "  white  lie  "  and  social 
deception,  the  lapse  from  honesty  when  ^he  con- 
ductor is  not  looking,  the  momentary  woiu  of  jeal- 
ousy, the  loss  of  self-control—all  are  bad  seeds  that 
drop  into  fertile  soil.    Sins  are  contagious. 

But  good  is  contagious  too.  If  fear  is  contagions, 
so  is  courage ;  if  envy,  so  is  magnanimity.  A  hearty 
laugh  sets  others  off,  and  a  cheerful  countenance 
does  cood  like  medicine.  Actual  sunshine  seems 
irradiated  by  some  natures,  and  hope  runs  riot  like 
hysteria  when  influential  people  are  optimists. 

Be  noble!  and  the  nobleness  that  lies 
lii  other  men,  sleeping,  but  never  dt„i!, 
Will  rise  in  majesty  to  meet  thine  own. 

One  of  our  American  soldiers  who  had  lost  both 
his  legs  in  battle,  was  wheeled  out  into  the  general 
ward  of  the  hospital  that  he  might  hear  the  address 
of  the  visiting  "  Y  »  man,  our  own  Doctor  Fosdick. 
The  glowing  words  of  the  speaker  greatly  touched 
the  soldier's  heart,  and  he  exclaimed  bravely,  "  I'm 
glad  it  was  that  end  of  me  and  not  this  "  (pointing 
to  his  feet  and  his  head)  "that  was  hit!"    That 


If  ft: 


Contagion 


21 


fortitude  is  contagious.  No  one  who  hears  the  in- 
cident fails  to  be  cheered.  A  new  spirit  of  bearing 
ills  heroically  is  imparted.  Surely,  the  best  gift 
the  hero  can  make  the  world  is  to  have  been  a  hero. 
Religion  is  contagious.  Ii.  a  true  sense,  it  can 
not  be  taught,  it  must  be  caught.  It  was  the  method 
of  the  Master;  his  disciples  were  chosen  that  they 
might  be  with  him.  When  King  Arthur  spoke  to 
the  Table  Round  of  matters  deepest  in  his  heart, 
Tennyson  says  that  on  the  faces  of  his  knights  ap- 
peared "the  momentary  likeness  of  their  king." 
Thus  is  Jesus  reproduced  today.  Pure  Christianity 
has  always  been  propagated  by  personal  contact. 
The  noble  man  or  woman  is  a  ccntagion-carrier,  as 
George  Eliot  saw  when  she  described  her  heroine 
as 

A  woman  of  such  fine  elements  mixed, 
That  were  all  virtue  and  religion  dead, 
She'd  make  them  nswly,  being  wh-.'  she  was. 

Live !  Spread  the  contagion  of  good  cheer,  forti- 
tude, and  noble  purpose!  Be  Christlike!  The 
sight  of  you  will  do  good!  Your  very  shadow  will 
heal ! 

W.B. 


VI 


FREEDOM  AND  SERVICE 

"For  ye,  brethren,  xvere  called  for  freedom;  only 
vse  not  your  freedom  for  an  occasion  to  the  flesh, 
but  through  love  be  servants  one  to  another"  (Gal 
■>  '   13). 

THERE  is  no  heritage  which  compares  with 
that  of  freedom.  That  is  the  true  destiny  of 
humanity,  for  we  are  told  th^t  the  whole 
creation  which  is  in  bondage,  shall  be  delivered  from 
bondage  into  the  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God.  Freedom  is  the  glorious  heritage  of 
the  gospel  and  belongs  to  every  believer. 

But  a  grave  danger  is  always  confronting  us  in 
the  matter  of  freedom.     It  is  apt  to  be  confused 
withlicense.    How  often  in  history  the  struggle  for 
liberty  becomes  a  mere  ..elf-assertion,  a  m^re  de- 
fense  of  one's  rights,  and  therefore  degenerates 
;nto  license.    When  men  claim  that  they  are  fight- 
ing for  liberty,  we  must  ask  them  what  they  mean 
by  liberty.     Autocracy  waged  the  world  war  for 
bberty.     Imperialism  desired  more  elbow-room,  a 
Pmce  m  the  sun,  scope  for  conquest.    And  to  au- 


Freedom  and  Service 


23 


tocracy  liberty  meant  only  self-aggrandizement. 
Anarchy  has  also  become  a  champion  of  liberty,  but 
its  program  is  simply  freedom  from  the  constraints 
imposed  by  t;  c  recL.gr.i^-.r  of  order  in  society. 
Again  it  is  se  '.  And  autocracy  and  anarchy,  the 
very  extremes  f  society,  are  one  in  their  idea  of 
libei'ty. 

A  democracy  can  nevei-  make  a  compact  with 
either  autocracy  or  anarchy,  for  democracy  rests 
upon  mutual  respect,  mutual  restraint.  It  is  the 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  the  other  man.  Its  es- 
sential idea  is,  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens." 
This  is  the  place  where  true  liberty  is  realized. 
Freedom  exists  where  men  J»re  through  love  becom- 
ing servants  o.;3  to  another. 

Slaverj'  is  unwilling  service.  It  is  doing  a  thing 
without  the  interest  of  the  mind  or  the  consent  of 
the  will.  The  slave  knows  not  what  his  master  is 
doing.  But  freedom  is  not,  as  we  are  apt  to  think, 
release  from  service.  Slavery  is  unwilling  service; 
freedom  is  willing  sei-vice.  Our  liberty  is  realized 
in  our  willingness.  So  freedom  is  not  to  be  able 
to  do  what  we  will,  but  to  will  to  do  what  we 
ought.  When  we  are  confronted  by  the  judgments 
of  conscience,  to  find  in  the  soul  a  glad  response  is 
liberty  indeed.  The  correspondence  between  the 
"I  ought"  and  the  "I  will"  is  our  deliverance 
from  bondage. 


24 


Freedom  and  Service 


The  psalmist  prays,  "  Uphold  me  with  a  willing 
spint.  It  might  be  rendeied,  "with  a  voluntary 
spirit  '  He  felt,  the  need  of  having  created  within 
him  the  spirit  of  willingness.  This  prayer  is 
echoed  by  a  modern  saint,  George  Matheson: 

Make  me  a  captive,  Lord, 

And  then  I  shall  be  free; 
Force  me  to  render  up  my  sword. 

And  I  shall  conqueror  be. 
I  sink  in  life's  alarms 

When  by  myself  I  stand; 
Imprison  me  within  Thy  arms, 

And  strong  shall  be  my  hand. 

My  heart  is  weak  and  poor 

Until  it  master  find: 
It  has  no  spring  of  action  sure. 

It  varies  with  the  wind: 
It  cannot  freely  move 

Till  Thou  hast  wrought  its  chain; 
Enslave  it  with  Thy  matchless  love, 

And  deathle.,3  it  shall  reign. 

J.  P.  B. 


i«K*y 


■'•¥- 
1 


VII 


THE  POWER  OF  A  FEW 

WHEN  I  arrived  in  Rochester  in  1888,  it 
was  dominated  by  a  corrupt  and  shame- 
less political  ring.  How  some  of  us  re- 
stored good  government  to  the  city  it  would  take 
an  hour  to  tell. 

Just  one  chapter  in  ten  minutes.    The  extensive 
brewmg  interests  practically  owned  the  ring  and 
flaunted  their  saloons  with  the  allied  gambling  and 
prostitution  boldly  before  the  faces  of  the  citizens 
on  Sundays  and  every  other  day  of  the  week.    My 
father's  successful  contests  for  civic  betterment  in 
Chicago  had  taught  me  the  lesson  that  the  firmest 
ground  which  a  reformer  could  take  was  the  en- 
forcement  of  law.    Consequently  we  began  our  fight 
for  a  better  city  by  foming  a  Law  and  Order 
League  in  the  Protestant  churches.    There  was  a 
ffood  response,  and  we  enlisted  some  brave  and  per- 
sistent  fellow  workers.    We  had  a  very  spectacular 
victory  over  Sunday  baseball,  and  cowed  the  sa- 
loons into  some  sort  of  decency.     They  at  least 
closed  their  front  doors  on  Sunday  and  eliminated 

25 


26 


The  Power  of  a  Few 


some  of  their  more  objectionable  featu  But 

nothing  is  so  deadly  to  a  reform  movement  as  a  par- 
tial victory.  I  did  my  best  to  show  the  brethren  that 
their  job  was  only  half  done,  but  they  thought  that 
the  city  looked  fairly  respectable,  and  we  could  not 
get  any  more  money  out  of  them  to  maintain  the 
rather  expensive  machinery  of  our  league.  In  six 
or  eight  weeks  the  town  was  wide  open  again. 

I  thought  that  perhaps  the  movement  had  not 
been  wide  enough  in  its  scope,  and  spent  my  spare 
time  for  some  weeks  trying  to  enlist  all  sorts  of 
men— Protestants,  Catholics,  Jews,  agnostiics,  and 
everybody  else— in  a  new  league.    We  were  quite 
successful.    We  held  a  big  meeting  in  the  city  hall, 
and  elected  one  of  the  most  prominent  business 
men  of  Rochester  president  of  the  league.    We  se- 
lected a  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  a  list  of  very 
distinguished  names  representing  the  solidest  men 
in  the  city.    The  newspapers  were  full  of  it,  and  the 
brewers  began  to  tremble  in  their  shoes.    Two  or 
three  days  later  we  held  a  fairly  well-attended  meet- 
ing of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred,  but,  when 
we  attempted  to  agree  on  a  definite  line  of  action, 
we  found  it  impossible;  the  Jews  and  agnostics  had 
no  interest  in  Sunday;  some  of  them  were  quite 
lukewarm  about  any  attack  on  the  liquor  business, 
while  nearly  all  said  that  we  would  do  more  harm 
than  good  if  we  grappled  with  the  curse  of  prostitu- 


'msMKij^m 


i 


The  Power  of  a  Few 


97 


tion.  So  the  committee  adjourned,  and  neither  the 
league  nor  the  committe.^  ever  met  again.  It  died 
a-bommg."  It  was  so  liberally  conceived  that  it 
could  not  do  anything.  Its  edge  was  so  broad  that 
It  could  not  cut;  its  mortal  disease  wa-  congenital 
paralysis  induced  by  an  excessive  catnolicity.  I 
have  since  often  thought  that  an  organic  union  of 
all  kmds  and  varieties  of  Christians  might  meet  a 
similar  fate  for  the  same  causes. 

I  was  very  much  cast  do^v'n,  and  went  about  with 
my  head   hanging  down   like  a   bulrush.     Some 
months    afterward,    Judge    Raines,    a    prominent 
lawyer  almost  unknown  to  me,  asked  me  to  lunch 
with  him      He  said:  "Anderson,  I  deeply  sympa- 
thize with  your  purpose,  but  I  don't  think  we  went 
at  It  right.    What  we  want  is  to  start  a  still  hunt; 
to  keep  out  of  the  newspapers  and  to  make  an  or- 
ganization of  men  who  are  heart  and  soul  with  us  " 
So  the  judge  and  I  determined  definitely  on  our 
objective  and  on  the  exact  method  of  attaining  it. 
We  then  enlisted  fifteen  men  who  were  heartily  at 
one  for  this  objective  and  method.     There  wer^^ 
Judge  Raines,  three  pastors  of  Protestant  churches" 
one  good  Catholic  priest,  and  ten  business  men  who 
were  ready  to  back  us  financially.     We  hired  a 
bright  young  lawyer  who  had  just  been  admitted  to 
the  bar.    We  gave  him  fifteen  dollars  a  week,  the 
privilege  of  consultation  with  Judge  Raines,  and 


>y  ::: 


28 


The  Power  of  a  Few 


I 


the  prospect  of  making  a  reputation  for  himself. 
We  told  him  to  gather  evidence  quietly,  and  revoke 
just  as  many  saloon  licenses  as  he  possibly  could  in 
the  shortest  possible  time.  These  thousand-dollar 
saloon  licenses  were  all  owned  by  the  big  brewers 
and  within  four  months  our  energetic  attorney  had 
secured  the  revocation  of  ten  of  them  and  had  ten 
more  ready  for  trial. 

We  used  to  meet  in  a  vacant  room  in  Judge  Raines' 
office  buildmg  once  in  two  weeks.    There  was  noth- 
mg  m  the  room  except  a  kitchen-table  and  about 
fifteen  kitchen-chairs,  and  it  was  our  custom  to  pre- 
side  m  turn.    At  the  end  of  four  months  we  were 
meeting  as  usual.    The  early  enthusiasm  had  worn 
away;  the  Roman  Catholic  bishop,  having  heard 
from  his  distillers,  had  called  off  the  good  priest- 
our  laymen  were  getting  tired  of  putting  up  the 
money  and  didn't  come  to  the  meetings  very  much. 
Our  attorney  reported  that  it  was  growing  very 
much  more  difficult  to  get  evidence,  and  that  the 
cases  were  being  fought  more  sharply  as  time  went 
on.    The  treasury  was  empty;  and  altogether  we 
were  having  a  very  bad  half-hour.    There  were  only 
SIX  of  us  present,  and  I  happened  to  be  presiding. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  knock  at  the  door  and 
when  It  was  opened,  a  very  elegantly  dressed  party 
of  gentlemen  walked  in-two  of  the  leriing  lawyei^ 
of  Rochester,  and  four  brewers  representing  ten 


The  Power  of  a  Few 


•Jf) 


million  dollars  capital.    I  asked,  "  Gentlemen,  what 
can  we  do  for  you  today?  "    One  of  the  lawyers  rose 
and  replied,  "  We  have  come  here  to  find  out  on 
what  terms  we  can  have  peace."    I  said,  "  I  think 
that  I  may  speak  for  my  colleagues  on  the  commit- 
tee  when  I  say  that  you  can  have  peace  when  you 
are  ready  to  obey  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New 
York  m  every  particular."    "  We  are  ready  now  " 
was  the  unexpected  answer.    That  was  the  whole 
of  the  major  conversation.    Judge  Raines  in  a  few 
moments  arranged  the  details.    The  pending  suits 
for  revocation  of  licenses  were  not  to  be  pressed  so 
long  as  the  saloon-keepers  obeyed  the  law,  but  just 
as  soon  as  they  broke  the  law  the  suits  would  be 
revived.    We  also  agreed  to  let  the  brewers  know 
when  their  sa.oon-keepers  broke  the  law,  and  they 
agreed  to  withdraw  the  licenses  from  all  such  sa- 
loon-keepers.    It  was  in  all  the  papers  the  next 
day,  but  the  brewers  put  it  in,  not  we.    This  cove- 
nant was  kept  until  after  my  departure  from  Roch- 
ester.   The  brewers  did  our  work  fo  -  us. 

This  story  teaches  that  (1)  A  few  determined 
men,  perhaps  not  more  than  two  or  three,  who  know 
just  what  they  want  and  how  to  get  it,  who  have 
courage,  persistence,  a  little  common  sense,  and 
back-bones  instead  of  wish-bones,  can  do  great 
thmgs.  It  is  not  necessary  to  have  a  large  number. 
The  Lord  said  that  he  would  be  with  two  or  three 


■I'-r'j 


30 


The  Power  of  a  Few 


and  of  tli&t  sort  of  people  Isaiah  said  that  one 
should  chase  a  thousand  and  that  two  should  put 
ten  thousand  to  flight.     The  constant  wonder  of 
the  man  who  penetrates  farther  and  farther  into 
the  inner  circles  of  power,  is  how  few  men  rule  the 
world.     (2)  The  other  lesson  is  that  the  darkest 
hour  is  always  just  before  the  dawn.     General 
Grant  in  his  "  Memoirs  "  says  that  the  whole  secret 
of  victory  lies  in  your  living  through  the  minute 
when  both  you  and  your  opponent  are  thinking  of 
quitting.    The  Caucasians  have  a  proverb  that  hero- 
ism consists  in  enduring  the  next  moment.     Pa- 
tience and  persistence  in  a  good  cause  will  almost 
certamly  lead  to  final  victory. 

These  two  principles  are  just  as  true  in  the  spirit- 
ual work  of  a  church  as  they  are  in  civic  reform. 

F  L.A. 


^l 


VIII 


THE  MOST  HIGH 


Psalm  139 

THE  First  Commandment  and  the  frequent 
uses  of  the  term  "  Most  High  "  indicate  to 
us  that  God  is  supreme.  What  do  we  mean 
by  supreme?  Doctor  Martineau  said  that  "  if  any 
man  accepts  as  God  anything  lower  than  his  high- 
est possible  conception,  he  violates  the  First  Com- 
mand." 

Think  of  power.    If  you  can  imagine  any  power 
higher  than  God  then  you  violate  the  First  Com- 
mand.     Try    to    conceive    the    utmost    goodness. 
When  we  have  gone  to  the  farthest  limit  of  our 
very  highest  conception  of  goodness  we  find  Him. 
If  we  seek  to  yq  Vizq  truth,  absolute  truth,  we  come 
to  know  him.     If  we  go  in  the  direction  of  con- 
sciousness, the  ability  to  know  we  know,  we  come  to 
the  Absolute  Consciousness,  to  the  Infinite  Aware- 
ness— who  alone  knows.    If  we  struggle  to  realize 
to  the  utmost,  love,  mother  love,  our  highest  possi- 
ble conception  of  love,  falls  far  short  of  the  infinite 
care  of  Him  who  is  love. 

31 


32 


The  Most  High 


He  ,s  the  Supreme  Hcality.  We  must  come  to 
know  that  in  him  "all  things  subsist."  He  is  the 
Eternal  Bemg.  the  Essence,  the  Source  of  our  ex. 
istence.  The  expression  "  existence  of  God  "  is  not 
quite  correct.    We  exist,  he  is. 

If  we  try  to  realize  Presence  we  come  to  him.  We 
are  present  here  this  morning,  we  realize  each 
other  s  presence,  but  we  could  not  do  so  if  we  did 
not  live,  move,  and  have  our  being  in  him."  When 
we  know  the  truest  Presence,  the  real  essence  of 
Presence,  we  are  at  his  right  hand,  in  whose  "  pres- 
ence  is  fulness  of  joy." 

Some  modern  philosophers,  or  rather  agnostics, 
have  held  that  God  is  so  transcendently  grfat  that 
we  cannot  know  him.    Professor  Bowne,  in  his  re- 
view of  Herbert  Spencer,  showed  that  this  would 
be  a  limitation  of  God.    If  God  is  infinite,  and  there- 
fore cannot  reveal  himself  to  finite  creatures,  then 
he  ,s  not  infinite.    We  must,  therefore,  bring  this 
consciousness  of  God  near  to  us.    "  He  calleth  his 
own  sheep  by  name,  and  leadeth  them  out "    He 
knows  each  one  of  us  better  than  we  know  our- 
selves.   He  IS  supreme  even  in  his  nearness  to  us.  in 
his  realization  even  of  our  needs.     We  must  put 
no   limit    whatever   to    the    Infinite   and    Eternal 
Keality. 

Can  we  in  a  few  moments  of  silent  devotion  real- 
ize mat 


The  Most  High  33 

Closer  is  He  than  breathing, 
Nearer  than  hands  and  feet. 

Our  growth,  mental  and  spiritual,  is  measured  by 
that  power  of  extension  of  our  highest  faculties  in 
our  endeavors  to  conceive  Him  who  is  without  a 
nan...  because  he  transcends  all  names,  who  in- 
habits no  place  because  he  is  everywhere.  Our 
highest  conceptions  of  him  are  but  dim  approxima- 
tions  which  grow  through  all  our  life  and  which 
will  keep  on  growing  in  that  larger  life. 

S.  S.  C. 


Ie_/'v 


IX 


THE  GREAT  REVELATION 

WE  are  so  conscious  that  our  own  pur- 
poses are  not  always  the  noblest  and  the 
best  that  we  are  very  apt,  in  seeking  to 
interpret  the  will  of  God,  to  assume  that  his  pur- 
pose in  these  respects  is  a  councerpart  of  our  own. 
Some  have  not  hesitated  to  attribute  to  God  a  ca- 
price, and  sometimes  a  malignity,  that,  if  mani- 
fested in  man,  they  would  unequivocally  condemn. 
They  recognize  that  the  use  of  power  is  one  of  the 
severest  tests  of  manhood,  but  they  find  it  difficult 
to  believe  that  the  employment  of  omnipotence  is 
controlled  by  the  finest  and  noblest  moral  disposi- 
tions. 

Certainly  one  of  the  most  wholesome  things  that 
we  can  do  is  to  emancipate  ourselves  from  unwar- 
ranted and  ignoble  conceptions  of  the  relation  of 
God  to  men.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  preaching 
about  the  divine  love,  but  very  often  the  main 
thought  of  that  great  revelation  of  God's  nature  is 
completely  missed.  It  is  assumed  that  the  divine 
love  is  practically  synonymous  with  an  easy  over- 
^4 


The  Oreat  Revelation 


3b 


looking  of  sin.  Whereas  the  contrary  is  the  truth 
If  the  love  of  God  means  the  highest  and  greatest 
things,  it  means  that  God  constantly  and  energeti- 
cally  desires  that  men  shall  have  the  best  things  in 
the  universe,  and  be  fit  to  have  them.  It  means  that 
the  life  of  every  one  of  us  is  encompassed  by  a 
spiritual  atmosphere  and  infiuence  that  is  work- 
ing for  the  highest  realization  of  every  kind  of  good 
for  us.  More  than  that,  it  means  that  we  are  living 
m  the  presence  of  a  Personality  that  has  the  best 
and  noblest  intentions  toward  us. 

There  is  no  relaxation  of  the  divine  demand  for 
righteousness  in  this  view  of  the  relation  of  God 
to  men.    A  son's  moral  defiance  of  his  father  is  a 
far  deeper  and  graver  thing  than  the  breaking  of 
the  law  enacted  by  a  sovereign  or  a  legislature  and 
interpreted  by  a  judge.    Many  of  the  low  and  super- 
ficial views  of  sin  have  their  origin  in  the  effort 
to  interpret  moral  relations  in  the  terms  of  legal 
procedures.    As  a  result,  some  are  seeking  to  unfold 
the  deepest  things  of  the  spirit  on  principles  that 
would  not  be  tolerated  in  a  police  court.    Looked  at 
nghtly,  there  is  nothing  so  intolerant  of  evil,  or  so 
exacting  and  almost  exorbitant  in  its  requirement, 
as  the  divine  love  that  demands  that  men  shall  have 
the  best  the  resources  of  God  can  bestow  because 
they  are  fit  to  have  them.   The  idea  that  God  desires 
to  have  men  happy  independently  of  their  right- 


i 


36 


The  Great  Revelation 


eousness  is  surely  one  of  the  grossest  perversions  of 
ethical  principles     What  satisfaction  would  it  give 
to  any  parent  to  know  that  his  daughter  was  happy 
in  a  life  of  vice?    Such  tidings  would  give  him  the 
keenest  pain.    God  desires  our  happiness,  but  only 
the  happiness  which  is  the  flower  of  righteousness. 
The  deeper  revelation  of  the  sinfulness  of  sin  that 
comes  from  a  true  interpretation  of  the  divine  love, 
IS  yet  to  be  wrought  out  by  some  great  theologian 
into  a  view  of  the  worth  and  majesty  and  ethical 
.  completeness  of  the  atonement  of  Christ  that  will 
be  as  revelatory  of  the  evil  of  sin,  of  the  righteous- 
•   ness  of  God,  and  of  the  possibility  of  reconciliation 
with  God.  is  the  Lick  telescope  is  revelatory  of  the 
glories  and  majesties  of  ordered  systems  in  the 
deeps  of  the  stellar  universe. 

Of  one  thing  we  may  be  absolutely  certain.  The 
divine  mind  is  well  disposed  toward  men— toward 
all  men.  God  desires  that  "all  men  shall  be  saved 
and  come  to  a  knowledge  of  tue  truth."  The  diffi- 
culties  in  the  way  of  a  better  and  truer  life  for  all 
of  us  are  not  in  him  but  in  ourselves.  He  is  waiting 
to  help  every  soul  that  will  take  his  help.  He  de- 
sires our  well-being  with  an  intensity  to  which  the 
desire  of  an  eari;hly  father  for  his  son's  and  his 
daughter's  well-being  affords  only  a  faint  analogue. 
He  desires  it  so  much  that  the  only  adequate 
measure  of  the  depth  and  power  of  his  passion  is 


The  Great  Bevelation 


37 


not  to  be  found  in  any  human  father's  heart,  but  in 
the  Cross  of  Christ.  That  is  the  essence  and  heart 
of  the  gospel,  and  it  is  full  of  courage  and  of  high 
incitement  to  the  weakest  and  most  discouraged. 

G.  E.  H. 


4 


!i     ' 


t 


irit.-- 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

Matthew  12  :  US.U5;  Colosshns  1  :  27 

WHAT  is  the  meaning  or  lesson  of  this 
little  parable?    It  condemns  the  negative, 

.nMf-      !!""   Z""""^^'    *^'    "^"**^^    ^^tho"t    the 
spirit,    not  only  in  the  generation  of  the  Master 

but  m  all  time.  Men  resolve  to  give  up  their  evil 
habits  to  'turn  over  a  new  leaf."  For  a  time  a 
man  by  resolution  may  stop  drinking,  swearing, 
whmmg,  smoking,  or  other  evil  habite,  but  then 
temptation  may  come  upon  him  in  greater  force, 
and  his  last  state  discover  itself  sadly  worse  than 
the  first. 

What  was  the  real  trouble  with  this  man  from 
whom  the  evil  spirit  went  out?    The  evil  spirit 

himself  "I  will  return  to  my  house,"  that  is,  the 
mans  heart.     He  returns  and  finds  it  "empty 
swept,  and  garnished."    There  had  been  a  regular 
housecleaning.     He  finds  seven  other  evil  spirits, 

the  firsT  '"'  ^""^  *^'  '^*  ^^  '^  ^^"««  «^«" 

38 


m 


lts''^H, 


^^'.^M^ 


"E2^iiias!fitm 


The  Inner  Life 


39 


The  real  trouble  was  that  the  heart  was  empty. 
If  the  evil  spirit  had  found  it  occupied,  he  would 
have  gone  back  to  his  "  waterless  places." 

The  Christian  religion  is  not  an  external  compli- 
ance  or  result  of  mere  human  resolution.  It  is  a 
life,  an  inner  life. 

Look  at  the  white  oaks  on  this  hill.    Through  all 
this  winter  the  storms  have  raged,  the  winds  have 
blown,  rain,  snow,  and  hail  have  beat  upon  them, 
but  the  dead  leaves  have  clung  close  to  the  old 
branches,  and  there  they  hang  today.    But  in  a  few 
weeks,  when  the  warmth  of  the  sun  penetrates  to 
the  depth  of  the  roots  of  the  trees,  new    :fe  will 
spring  up,  and  how  quickly  will  these  dry,  dead 
leaves  fall  off!    The  sun  this  December  day  is  six 
million  miles  nearer  the  earth  than  it  was  last 
June.    Why  then  all  this  bleakness?    The  earth  has 
turned  away  its  face,  or  our  part  of  its  face,  from 
the  sun.    When  it  again  turns  toward  the  sun,  the 
ra>3  will  penetrate  directly  to  the  heart  of  these 
cold  hills  and  awaken  new  life.    All  will  h-  changed 
The  Infinite,  Eternal,  Spiritual  Life  is  always 
near.    But  we  turn  away  our  faces  so  that  we  do 
not  receive  the  life  that  will  warm  our  frozen  beings 
and  fill  the  foundations  of  our  nature  with  his  spirit 
and  transform  our  life  from  within  outward. 

The  positive  truth  which  this  paragraph   ex- 
presses  negatively  you  will  find  in  the  last  clause  of 


w^'^sm^ismii/:^- 


40 


The  Inner  Life 


the  twenty-seventh  verse  of  the  first  chapter  of 
Colossians,  "  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory."  We 
need  not  a  mere  historical  Christ,  bom  at  Bethle- 
hem nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  but  a  living 
Christ  bom  in  every  one  of  our  hearts.  Though  a 
thousand  times  Christ  be  bom,  he  is  not  Christ  to 
us  until  he  is  bom  in  our  souls.  Let  us  sing  the 
hymn  of  Phillips  Brooks,  and  with  all  our  hearts 
pray  that  he  "  be  bora  in  us  today." 

S.  S.  C. 


•li^'HCi; ,-- '    '"'  '.'■ryr.j^^MLiti'-'Mf 


^-^: 


■■•y, 


^^ss^ 


XI 


THE  DYNAMIC  JESUS 


WE  sometimes  ask  ourselves:  What  would 
Jesus  do  under  present  circumstances? 
We  might  better  ask  ourselves :  What  did 
he  do  in  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed,  and 
what  principles  can  we  deduce  from  his  conduct  to 
guide  ourselves  under  quite  different  circum- 
stances?  It  is  idle  to  ask  how  Jesus  would  edit  a 
daily  newspaper,  or  travel  on  a  railroad  train,  or 
conduct  himself  in  a  summer  hotel.  What  we  want 
to  know  is  how  he  faced  the  issues  of  life  in  a  large 
way,  and  how  he  mastered  his  age. 

Jesus  blazed  plainly  certain  highways  of  conduct. 
It  IS  significant  that  he  joined  aggressively  in  a 
contemporary  movement  for  the  common  good. 
The  issue  was  the  spiritual  reform  movement  of 
John  the  Baptizer.  Jesus  was  wise  enough  to  take 
the  impulse  generated  by  that  movement,  publicly 
announce  himself  in  sympathy  with  it,  and  then 
translate  it  into  a  permanent  spiritual  enterprise. 
He  did  not  stand  off  and  criticize  it.  He  did  not 
start  a  rival  sectarian  program  of  his  own.     He 

41 


42 


The  Dynamic  Jesus 


-'i 


did  not  even  wait  until  it  had  spent  its  momentum 
before  he  started  a  revival.  He  allied  himself  with 
it,  and  so  increased  the  momentum. 

This  is  a  time  of  many  movements.    Like  Jesus 
we  should  join  with  them.    There  is  the  missionary 
movement  with  its  various  campaigns.    Let  us  get 
into  line.    There  is  the  social  movement,  now  push- 
ing prohibition,  again  pressing  for  the  cure  of  other 
evils.    It  is  our  business  to  be  in  the  ranks.    There 
IS  the  new  emphasis  upon  internationalism.     We 
should  be  among  its  prophets.    We  may  be  criti- 
cized.   So  was  he.    We  shall  surely  feel  the  strain 
upon  our  energies.    Vitality  went  out  from  him. 
We  may  fail.    Apparently  he  failed  in  winning  Is- 
rael.   But  he  took  his  share  of  the  world's  burden 
and  for  you  and  me  to  let  well  enough  alone  is 
to  be  a  slacker  when  the  Son  of  God  goes  forth 
to  war. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  dynamic  Jesus  was 
that  he  emphasized  present  action.    Some  persons 
live  m  the  future  as  other  persons  live  in  the  past 
They   thrive    on    expectancy    instead    of   getting 
proper  exercise  in  present  action.    They  are  wait- 
mg  for  a  millennium  that  is  to  burst  full-grown 
upon  their  vision,   when   Christ  is  already  here 
marchmg  to  victory  in  the  growing  light  of  a  new 
world  vision,  the  growing  understanding  of  human 
obligation,  the  growing  spirit  of  service  and  sacri- 


The  Dynamic  Jesus 


43 


-'■ 


fice  that  characterizes  this  new  age.  The  times 
were  at  hand  for  Jesus.  They  are  here  at  our  hand 
today.  Never  has  the  Spirit  of  God  summoned  more 
clearly  to  hope  and  faith  and  loyalty  than  right  now 
in  this  year  of  God's  grace.  Let  us  put  off  talking 
any  longer  about  a  Christ  who  is  to  come,  and  wake 
up  to  the  consciousness  that  he  is  here. 

It  is  worth  observing  finally  that  Jesus  got  a  re- 
sponse from  those  who  wanted  to  see  things  done. 
Christianity  has  won  its  way  because  there  have 
always  been  a  few  forward-looking  men  to  carry  it 
on  in  their  generation.    If  Jesus  had  waited  until  he 
had  converted  the  Pharisees  before  he  proclaimed 
his  kingdom,  he  would  have  been  exhorting  them 
yet.    It  was  not  the  static  congregation  at  Nazareth 
on  which  he  relied  for  the  success  of  the  mission 
about  which  he  preached  on  that  historic  Sabbath 
morning  when  they  rejected  him.    It  was  on  the 
impulsive  Peter  and  the  fiery  sons  of  thunder, 
James  and  John.    They  became  his  inner  cabinet! 
They  caught  his  spirit  and  gave  him  their  alle- 
giance.   From  them  he  won  a  response  because  they 
were  kindred  souls  of  the  dynamic  soul  that  was  his. 
And  when  he  faced  the  end  of  his  ministry  he  went 
serenely  to  the  cross,  confident  that  his  -ause  could 
not  fail,  for  the  dynamic  few  that  loved  and  believed 
in  him,  human  as  they  were,  would  pass  on  his  mis- 
sion to  those  that  should  come  after. 


^j^'sm.'^m^i  •gj!»ii"j^S^<4l«£gMfc^«a^fe^#Nja»q^gt^^iA^l^ 


44 


The  Dynamic  Jesus 


There  were  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  folk  amonir 
the  followers  of  Jesus.  There  are  today.  But  it 
IS  not  on  the  discreet  and  the  ultraorthodox,  the 
saint  or  the  sinner  as  such,  that  the  Master  depends 
to  move  this  present  age,  but  upon  those  whose 
hearts  like  his  are  a  dynamo  of  spiritual  energy,  and 
who  will  be  fearless  leaders  in  his  train. 

H.  K.  R. 


•ng 
it 
;he 
ds 
)se 
nd 


XII 


THE  SECRET  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

THERE  is  no  religion  in  the  Bible.  The  Bible 
is  not  religion  but  a  description  of  religion. 
All  the  religion  there  is  is  in  human  hearts. 
The  relation  of  the  Bible  to  religion  is  the  relation 
of  a  map  to  the  region  that  it  charts.  Hills  and 
valleys,  watercourses  and  forests,  are  not  in  the 
map  but  in  the  country  itself.  Strictly  speaking,  we 
cannot  teach  religion  any  more  than  we  can  teach 
vision  or  love.  We  can  tell  others  what  course  to 
pursue,  to  fulfil  the  conditions  for  experiencing  it, 
but  we  cannot  go  much  farther  than  that. 

We  do  not  always  understand  what  is  meant  by 
the  phrase  which  has  almost  become  cant,  "Chris- 
tianity  is  a  life."  If  it  means  that  Christianity  is 
conduct,  it  is  much  more  than  conduct.  But  if  those 
who  use  this  phrase  mean  that  Christianity  is  a 
spiritual  experience  of  new  relations  to  God  and  to 
men  and  to  the  worid,  then  it  is  the  statement  of  a 
profound  and  ultimate  truth. 

Dr  Emil  Reich  has  recently  called  attention  to  the 
tact  that  one  of  the  great  problems  of  the  modem 

45 


46 


The  Secret  of  Christianity 


Y    1 


world  is  how  to  account  for  Christianity.    We  are 
all  familiar  with  the  way  Gibbon  and  Milman  and 
a  host  of  lesser  historians  have  sought  to  account 
for  ,t.    But  the  point  that  they  all  miss,  and  that 
even  Uhlhom  himself  does  not  appear  to  conceive 
sharply,  is  that  the  excellence  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trines  and  their  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  human 
nature  do  not  satisfactorily  account  for  the  mar- 
velous vitality  of  the  Christian  faith.    What  they 
overlook  is  that  Christianity  is  primarily  a  spiritual 
e>^rience,  and  that  what  has  kept  Christianity 
vital  and  aggressive  and  victorious  is  that  millions 
of  men  who  have  followed  the  directions  of  Jesus 
have  entered  into  the  heart  of  this  experience.    The 
peace  of  God"  has  pervaded  their  hearts;  they 
have  shared  the  "  love  of  Christ ";  they  have  under- 
gone  a  profound  transformation  of  the  inner  life 
that  can  only  be  compared  to  passing  from  death  to 
life. 

-nie^  unbroken  experience  of  regeneration  in  all 
ands  m  which  Christianity  has  been  preached  and 
throughout  all  ages  is  the  most  tremendous  fact  of 
Chnstian  history.  Adopt  this  course,  says  the 
Book  and  you  will  share  this  transformation  of  the 
soul  that  shifts  its  center  of  gravity  from  self  to 

v.rifi  J^  .r'°  ^"^  *^'  "^"^^'"^^  ^^^^  ^°"«  this,  and 
verified  m  their  own  hearts  the  astounding  prophecy. 
And  that  ,s  why  Christianity,  in  spite  of  all  shocks 


I  . 


w^f^^^mrj^Bmm^v^ 


-:-:.^^'.j^.^ 


The  Secret  of  Christianity 


47 


re 
id 
It 
It 

e 

n 

> 

V 
,1 

7 
3 
} 


and  changes  and  corruptions,  has  abode  in  strength. 
Christianity  has  given  something  to  men,  more  than 
the  system  of  doctrines,  or  a  code  of  ethics,  or  a 
moral  ideal,  it  has  given  them  a  new  heart,  with 
a  new  sense  of  intimate  fellowship  with  the 
Eternal. 

When  we  read  a  story  of  love  that  took  place  in 
Egypt  thirty.five  hundred  years  ago,  every  feature 
of  the  narrative  is  perfectly  intelligible  to  us.    Our 
own  hearts  answer  the  passion  of  the  lovers,  be- 
cause  we  ourselves  have  shared  the  mystery  of  love. 
Heart  answers  to  heart  across  the  seas  and  the  cen- 
turies.   The  Christian  experience  is  like  that.    We 
know  perfectly  how  the  Christians  at  Thessalonica 
felt,  and  how  the  fugitives  in  the  catacombs  hoped 
and  loved  and  prayed.    They  did  exactly  what  we 
should  do.     And  as  the  modem  traveler  passes 
through  those  chambers  and  reads  the  inscriptions 
on  their  tombs,  he  brushes  away  a  tear  as  he  realizes 
that  their  hope  and  faith  answer  to  his  own,  and 
that  they  are  indeed  his  brethren  and  sisters  in  the 
Lord. 

^  Give  a  man  a  New  Testament,  and  you  do  not  give 
him  Christianity.  He  may  study  the  book  for  years 
and  hardly  gain  a  hint  of  what  Christianity  is. 
Most  likely  he  will  think  it  another  system  of  doc 
trines,  or  another  code  of  ethics,  but  the  moment  he 
follows  the  direction  of  the  book  and  yields  himself 


J^^lBIC^f^ZZEH^SBK 


48 


The  Secret  of  Christianity 


Hii 


m 


to  its  moral  appeal  he  knows  what  Christianity  is, 
and  not  only  the  book,  but  Christian  history  and  the 
inner  life  of  Christian  people  are  flooded  with  light. 
The  supreme  secret  of  the  vitality  and  power  of 
Christianity  is  the  birth  from  above. 

G.  E.  H. 


XIII 


HOUSE  AS  A  BIBLICAL  SYMBOL 


Psalms  23  :  6;  27  :  4; 
Habakknk  2  :  20;  John  i 
3  :  16,  17. 


91  :  1 ;  Matthew  6  :  6; 
' :  19-21;  1   Corinthians 


IS  not  the  greatest  parable  in  the  Old  Testament 
the  temple?  The  "  Holy  of  Holies  "  is  the  inner 
or  spiritual  consciousness  of  man;  the  various 
courts,  such  as  the  temple  of  the  Gentiles,  form  the 
more  external  or  commonplace  phases  of  man's  life. 
Whether  this  was  a  conscious  or  an  unconscious  em- 
bodiment  makes  little  difference,  nor  is  it  of  great 
importance  whether  or  not  this  was  true  of  the 
Egyptian  and  other  heathen  temples. 

The  "  secret  place  of  the  Most  High  "  is  not  some 
far-off  place.  It  is  in  the  depth  of  every  soul. 
There  is  a  room  with  a  door,  through  which,  as 
Emerson  has  said,  only  God  enters.  Here  is  the 
"secret  place,"  "the  holy  place  of  the  Most  High." 
We  can  turn  to  the  Infinite  Source  of  light,  and  the 
evils  disappear  as  darkness  vanishes  before  the 
light.  He  ever  knocks  at  the  door,  we  have  only  to 
open  it.  This  is  the  true  nature  of  prayer.  Here 
^  49 


50 


HouM  As  a  Biblical  Symbol 


' 


is  the  inner  chamber  into  which  we  are  to  retire  to 
pray,  where  the  heavenly  Father  seeth.  Some  have 
translated  the  "  inner  chamber  "  of  Matthew,  sixth 
chapter,  as  "  the  inner  place  of  thee." 

The  Christian  religion  is  a  constant  living  with 
God,  a  constant  communion  with  him.  "In  him 
we  live,  move,  and  have  our  being,"  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  this  is  Christ  in  us,  renewing  us, 
transforming  life  and  character. 

How  hard  it  was  for  the  Jews  to  get  away  from 
their  beloved  temple  when  it  was  destroyed.  How 
hard  it  was  for  them  to  realize  that  their  temple  was 
only  figurative,  a  symbol  of  revelation !  Still  is  it  so 
also  of  us.  How  many  think  of  heaven  as  a  place  a 
long  way  off,  a  place  where  they  hope  to  go  some 
time!  They  do  not  realize  that  heaven  must  begin, 
must  be  found,  in  the  depths  of  their  own  souls. 
Heaven  must  begin  here,  or  the  most  gorgeous  New 
Jerusalem  would  be  the  most  homeless  of  all  places, 
the  most  uncomfortable  place  in  the  universe.  To 
feel  at  home  we  must  have  on  a  "  wedding-garment." 

Let  us  take  the  message  of  the  Master.  Let  us 
each  retire  into  the  "  inner  place  "  and  prpy  to  Jiim 
who  sees  in  this  deep  realm  of  our  nature  where  no 
one  can  enter  but  God,  and  his  light  and  joy  will 
come,  and  discontent,  doubt,  fear,  envy,  all  impure 
thoughts  will  vanish  as  the  darkness  before  the  sun. 

S.S.C. 


lissMMTi^ii^t;^^^'  mm^m:i,s£:.  ^mtP'^mK  asi 


XIV 


THE  GOSPEL  OF  LAW 


"  God  is  not  mocked  "  (Gal.  6  :  7). 

THIS  verse  echoes  the  thunders  of  Sinai.  It 
voices  the  tremendous  moral  earnestness  and 
conviction  which  fired  the  heart  of  Paul. 
The  problem  of  sin  was  a  temble  reality  for  him, 
and  everything  he  has  to  say  is  permeated  with  his 
feehng  of  the  i  found  seriousness  of  evil.  It  was 
a  deep  feeling  which  to  his  mind  represented  God's 
attitude.  The  underlying  and  characteristic  fact 
of  this  world,  for  him,  was  the  moral  rule  of  God. 
His  statement,  that  we  must  all  stand  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ,  should  be  read  into  all  that 
he  says. 

But  while  this  verse  echoes  the  awful  thunders  of 
Smai,  it  occurs  in  a  context  which  claims  for  it  a 
I^ace,  not  in  Sinai,  but  in  the  gospel.  We  are  apt  to 
choose  this  text  as  a  threat  for  those  who  are  way- 
ward.  This  is  correct,  yet  let  it  be  remembered  that 
It  is  an  essential  part  of  the  message  of  glad-tidings. 
It  IS  a  matter  of  grace  which  should  inspire  songs  of 
mtitude  and  awaken  faith,  loyalty,  hope. 

51 


%ir..iSM4rmi 


52 


The  Gospel  of  Law 


^i 
i 


It  is  a  gospel  because  it  proclaims  the  moral  in- 
tegrity and  security  of  this  world,  and  that  there  is 
operative  in  the  affairs  of  men  a  law  which  makes 
for  righteousness.  There  is  in  the  Greek  verb  a 
homely  vigor  of  expression  which  is  very  emphatic. 
It  may  be  rendered  in  this  way:  God  does  not  suf- 
fer cny  one  to  turn  up  his  nose  at  him.  He  does  not 
allow  contempt  for  the  moral  order  to  pass  unno- 
ticed. This  is  sustained  by  the  statement  of  a  uni- 
versal principle:  "Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap."  It  is  more  important  to  know 
that  than  to  know  the  law  of  gravitation.  The  law 
of  the  harvest  runs  through  the  whole  constitution 
and  structure  of  the  universe.  It  is  true  in  plant 
life,  it  is  true  in  thinking,  in  feeling,  in  willing.  It 
does  not  work  in  a  haphazard,  spasmodic  way,  for 
God's  rule  is  not  an  intrusion  occasionally  inter- 
polated into  the  affairs  of  men,  but  is  an  essential 
principle  working  constantly  and  with  a  precision 
which  cannot  be  escaped.  There  is  no  hiatus,  no 
suspension. 

We  have  seen  this  law  vindicated  on  an  interna- 
tional stage  with  an  impressiveness  which  ought  to 
cause  every  soul  to  exclaim  with  new  conviction, 
God  is  not  mocked.  And  it  ought  to  be  said  with 
that  ringing  and  jo3rful  conviction  which  responds 
to  a  message  of  glad-tidings.  For  now  we  know  as 
we  never  knew  before,  that  God  is  not  on  the  side 


'm-m.- 


"■■m^^^miw^m:. 


The  Gospel  of  Law 


53 


of  the  strongest  battery.  If  he  had  been,  the  free 
nations  would  have  been  ground  into  slavery  before 
they  could  have  gotten  their  strong  batteries  into 
action.  God  is  not  mocked.  There  is  a  universe 
that  is  morally  sound,  one  worth  living  in.  one  which 
may  be  relied  upon. 

J.  P.  B. 


iiShSi:' 


XV 


THE  SP  FULNESS  OF  SIN 


m 


HENRY  was  born  about  1840  on  his  father's 
large  plantation  in  South  Carolina.  Neither 
of  his  parents  had  any  religion,  and  Henry, 
their  only  child,  was  an  epileptic.  While  he  was 
still  very  young.  His  father  sold  his  estate  and  his 
slaves,  bought  a  ranch  in  Yucatan,  and  soon  »rew 
rich.  There  were  no  schools  in  Yucatan,  and  Henry 
ran  wild  with  the  Mexican  and  Indian  children  and 
received  little  or  no  education. 

When  Henry  was  twelve  years  old  his  father  died, 
and  his  mother,  gathering  all  together,  took  her 
epileptic  boy  to  London,  seeking  medical  aid.  They 
visited  all  the  capitals  of  Europe,  consulting  the 
most  distinguished  physicians  of  the  world,  but  no- 
body could  help  Henry.  Finally  his  mother  died, 
and  Henry  was  left  rich,  eighteen,  and  absolutely 
alone  in  the  world.  His  father  had  always  had 
liquor  upon  his  table,  and  with  wina,  women,  and 
the  gaming-table,  it  did  not  take  Henry  long  to 
run  through  a  considerable  fortune.  He  found  him- 
self in  his  early  twenties  in  London,  friendless  and 
54 


The  Sinfulneis  of  Sin  55 

penniless.  He  was  naturally  a  mechanical  genius 
and  easily  learned  a  trade  by  which  he  made  good 
money  when  sober,  which  he  seldom  was.  After  a 
dozen  years  or  so  he  floated  back  to  his  native  land 
and  was  stranded  in  Rochester. 

At  this  time  Henry  was  wretched,  dirty,  diseased, 
besotted.   He  was  not  a  periodic  drunkard ;  he  drank 
all  the  time,  morning,  noon,  and  night,  and  even  had 
liquor  by  his  bedside  when  he  went  to  sleep     He 
was  a  perfect  heathen,  had  never  prayed  or  read  a 
verse  in  the  Bible  and  had  never  attended  a  re- 
hgious  service;  all  days  were  alike  to  Henry.    But 
a  r.  M  C.  A.  worker  became  acquainted  with  him 
and  had  pity  on  him.    One  Sunday  morning  about 
seven  0  clock,  Henry  was  starting  up  Main  Street 
for  his  carpenter  shop,  a  little  less  than  half-drunk. 
a  little  clearer  in  mind  than  usual.    His  Y.  M  C  A 
friend  met  him   and.   putting  his  hand   on  his 
shoulder,  said,  "Henry,  where  are  you  going^" 
There  was  a  muttered  reply,  something  about  work. 
No.    said  the  Christian  friend,  "you  are  going 
straight  to  hell,  Henry."   The  emphatic  and  serious 
word  sobered  him,  and  as  his  friend  led  him  by  the 
hand  into  a  quiet  alley,  he  said.  "Henry.  God  loves 
you.      This  was  news  to  the  poor  drunkard.    He 
hadn  t  supposed  that  anybody  loved  him.    In  two 
or  three  minutes  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  man  preached  the 
gospel  m  all  simplicity  to  Henry  and  made  him  learn 


ih 


56 


The  Sinfulness  of  Sin 


1? 


h  ■ 


by  heart  the  words,  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that 
he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlast- 
ing life."  Then  they  knelt  on  the  pavement  behind 
a  comer,  and  his  friend  taught  Henry  a  first  and 
sincere  prayer. 

A  wonderful  change  came  over  him.  Not  only 
was  his  appetite  gone,  but  he  had  a  distaste  for 
alcohol,  and  he  was  cured  of  his  epilepsy.  That 
night  he  testified  of  his  conversion;  he  joined  the 
Second  Baptist  Church  and  for  ten  years  was  a 
humble,  faithful,  prayer-meeting  Christian,  espe- 
cially diligent  in  the  study  of  his  Bible.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  the  half-drunken  boys  in  the  shop  one 
day  became  hilarious  and  began  throwing  things 
about.  One  of  them  hurled  a  beer-keg  across  the 
room,  and  it  struck  Henry's  leg  just  below  the  knee, 
shattering  the  bone.  He  fainted  from  the  excruciat- 
ing pain  and  probably  in  kindness,  possibly  in 
malice,  they  gave  him  whisky  to  revive  him.  It 
was  like  giving  human  blood  to  a  reformed  tiger. 
His  old  passion  for  drink  flamed  up.  At  the  hos- 
pital he  begged  piteously  for  liquor  and  surrep- 
titiously got  it,  and  when  he  was  discharged,  lame 
for  life,  and  with  the  epilepsy  upon  him  again,  he 
started  on  such  a  debauch  as  he  himself  had  rarely 
equaled  in  his  old  days  before  he  had  known  the 
touch  of  a  power  of  restraint. 


¥^m'Mmmw^>^-m 


The  Sinfulness  of  Sin 


57 


His  friends  in  the  church  sought  him  out  and 
talked  with  him.  He  was  penitent,  but  so  ashamed 
and  discouraged  that  they  could  do  little  for  him. 
When  I  came  to  Rochester  Henry's  case  seemed  to 
be  one  of  the  first  calling  for  discipline. 

But  my  heart  was  touched  when  I  heard  his  sad 
story,  and  though  they  told  me  that  it  would  be  of 
no  use,  seconded  by  a  good  deacon,  I  went  out  to 
seek  the  lost.    I  soon  discovered  that  I  had  to  con- 
tend not  so  much  with  the  overmastering  habit  as 
with  shame  and  despair.     To  make  a  long  story 
short,  Henry  came  back  to  the  church  four  or  five 
times  in  the  next  ten  years  during  periods  of  so- 
briety, one  of  them  lasting  all  of  twelve  months. 
He  was  very  humble  and  quiet,  but  occasionally 
would  pray  in   prayer-meeting.     Those  were  no 
formal  prayers,  but  fresh  and  living,  the  cries  of  a 
soul  fighting  for  its  life,  always  expressed  in  the 
choicest  English  with  a  remarkably  apt  selection  of 
words.    Somewhere  the  man  had  absorbed  culture. 
But  at  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  down  again  under 
the  grip  of  the  forces  of  evil. 

I  discovered  at  last  that  my  greatest  enemy  in 
my  fight  for  Henry  was  the  gang  of  wicked  young 
fellows  in  the  shop.  They  thought  it  sport  to  make 
the  old  man  drunk.  They  ridiculed,  reviled,  and 
brow-beat  him.  They  would  secretly  steal  his  din- 
ner-pail, put  whisky  in  his  coffee,  or  soak  his  bread 


~% 


^M^:;^w^ 


58 


The  SinftilneM  of  Sin 


with  it.  There  was  no  devilish  ingenuity  for  his 
destruction  of  which  they  were  not  capable.  They 
once  actually  took  him  and  by  force  poured  the 
liquor  down  his  throat.  I  did  everything  that  I 
could  to  get  him  another  place,  but  nobody  wanted 
a  drunkard,  a  trembling,  epileptic  old  man.  At  last 
in  my  desperation  I  committed  the  terrible  blunder 
of  going  into  the  shop  and  pleading  with  the  ring- 
leaders of  the  mischief  to  help  me  help  Henry.  A 
brutal  silence  was  all  the  reply  I  could  get,  and  for 
the  next  week  they  treated  Henry  worse  than  usual. 
Indeed  I  finally  learned  that  my  visits  to  Henry  in 
the  shop  only  made  matters  worse  rather  than  bet- 
ter. The  fact  was  that  I  was  contending  with  those 
wicked  fellows  for  the  soul  and  body  of  Henry,  but 
they  had  almost  every  advantage,  for  they  were 
with  him  six  days  in  the  week  and  my  visits  could 
be  only  occasional  at  best.  Of  course  the  inmost 
soul  of  Henry  was  on  my  side,  but  his  soul  was 
growing  weaker  and  more  depraved  under  the 
dreadful  vice. 

In  this  contest,  and  some  others  like  it,  I  learned 
the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin.  There  are  wicked 
men  in  every  community  who  rejoice  in  their 
wickedness.  They  hate  God ;  they  hate  the  church ; 
they  hate  all  good  men.  The  very  sight  of  virtue  is 
an  offense  to  them,  and  they  strive  with  hellish 
malice  to  drag  all  men  down  to  their  level.    Phi- 


m^i 


The  SinfulneM  of  Sin  59 

losophen  in  easy  chairs  may  teach  that  men  are 
inherently  good,  that  at  worst  they  are  the  un- 
wiUmg  slaves  of  bad  habits  or  unfortunate  environ- 
ment,  but  the  facts  of  the  real  world  are  against 
them.    The  truth  is  that  there  is  a  kingdom  of  con- 
scious  righteousness  and  godliness  in  this  world  at 
one  end,  and  a  kingdom  of  conscious  wickedness  at 
the  other,  and  between  these  lies  the  great  body  of 
humanity  with  its  good  and  bad  impulses  and  its 
higher  and  lower  thoughts,  aimless  and  wavering, 
ready  to  be  captured  by  the  good  or  the  evil.   These 
wicked  men's  thoughts  are  full  of  drunkenness,  lust, 
and  covetousness.    They  make  a  mock  at  sin.    They 
drmk  down  iniquity  like  water;  they  work  all  un- 
cleanness  with  greediness,  their  sleep  is  taken  away 
unless  they  cause  some  to  fall,  and,  knowing  the 
ordmance  of  God,  that  they  that  practise  such 
thmgs  are  worthy  of  death,  they  not  only  do  the 
same,  but  take  pleasure  in  them  that  practise 
them. 

Toward  the  end,  one  night,  poor  old  Henry  with 
the  smell  of  liquor  on  his  breath  came  into  the 
prayer-meeting.  After  the  service  was  about  half 
over,  he  rose  and  repeated  the  verse  irtAa  the  psalm, 
"  Though  he  fall,  he  shall  not  be  utterly  cast  down, 
for  the  Lord  shall  make  him  to  stand."  We  gath- 
ered round  him  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  with 
wsrm  Christian  welcome  and  love,  but  we  never 


i 


inirfi?c«pe^^iM?7mnH 


'I. 


60 


The  Sinfulness  of  Sin 


saw  him  again  in  the  church.  Some  time  afterward 
he  died  a  drunkard's  death  and  was  buried  in  a 
drunkard's  grave.  Somehow  I  feel  that  I  shall  see 
Henry  in  heaven,  that  He  who  judges  the  thoughts 
and  intents  of  the  heart  has  let  him  in. 

F.  L.  A. 


M^'-:3SM  "''IS;^  ^^finm^MH^^ 


XVI 


THE  JOY  OF  FOIGIVENESS 

ONE  evening  a  gentleman  left  word  at  my 
house  in  Rochester,  asking  me  to  visit  his 
wife.  The  ne.*;  afternoon  saw  me  in  the 
parlor  of  a  good  American  home  face  to  face  with 
a  woman  of  fifty,  apparently  in  fair  health  and 
moderate  circumstances.    It  soon  transpired  that 

she  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 

Church.    I  inquired  why  she  had  not  sent  for  her 
own  pastor.    She  replied  that  he  had  come  to  see 
her,  had  told  her  that  she  was  morbid  and  too  harsh 
with  herself,  and  had  been  unsympathetic  with  her 
view  of  her  own  case.    She  had  been  coming  to  my 
church  and  sitting  in  the  gallery  Sunday  evenings, 
and  now  she  had  called  me  thinking  that  I  would 
understand  her  and  deal  truly  with  her.     "And 
^vhat."  asked  I,  "  is  your  case?  "   With  deepest  feel- 
mg  she  replied:  "Three  weeks  ago  my  physician 
sentenced  me  to  death.    He  said  that  I  had  an  in- 
ternal cancer,  so  situated  that  an  operation  would 
be  impossible.    In  these  three  weeks  I  have  done  a 
great  dm]  of  thinking.    I  Joined  the  Presbyterian 

61 


^2 


!!! 


I 


62 


The  Joy  of  ForgiveneM 


Church  when  a  child,  without  any  particular  Chria^ 
tian  experience.  I  have  not  been  a  very  good 
church-member;  pretty  regular  Sunday  mornings, 
usually  said  my  prayers,  but  never  prayed  much, 
never  did  any  Christian  work  except  of  some  ex- 
ternal kind.  I  have  always  been  a  respectable 
Christian  woman  and  done  my  duty  fairly  well  in 
the  house.  And  now  I  look  back  on  what  seems  to 
me  almost  a  wasted  life.  My  sins  rise  up  before 
me,  threatening  and  accusing,  and  I  am  overcome 
with  remorse  and  despair." 

I  looked  her  straight  in  the  face  and  said  to  her : 
"  You  have  asked  me  to  deal  with  you  truly  and  I 
shall  do  so.  I  do  not  think  ^hat  you  are  morbid.  In 
the  light  of  eternity  which  has  dawned  on  you,  you 
see  your  sins  as  they  are,  with  clear  eyes.  You  have 
probably  understated  rather  than  overstated  your 
case,  for  all  of  us  in  life's  humdrum  days  are  far  too 
prone  to  justify  o'jrselves." 

Over  her  face  stole  a  look  of  satisfaction.  She 
was  glad  that  at  last  she  had  found  some  one  who 
understood.  It  was  only  for  a  moment,  however, 
when  she  cried:  " But  what  can  I  do  now?  I  can't 
meet  God  like  this."  "  No,  indeed,  you  can't,"  I  an- 
swer€<i;  "the  Bible  was  written  for  just  such  as 
you.  The  gospel  is  good  news  for  people  in  your 
state  of  mind."  And  then  I  began  to  repeat  the 
exceeding  great  and  precious  promises  to  the  hum- 


;::^^^^. 


The  Joy  of  ForgivenoM 


68 


ble  and  the  contrite.   "  Though  your  sins  be  as  scar- 
let,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow;  though  they  be 
red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool.    As  far  as 
the  east  is  from  the  west,  so  far  has  he  removed  our 
transgressions  from  us.    He  has  cast  them  behind 
his  back.   He  has  blotted  them  out  as  a  thick  cloud. 
He  has  drowned  them  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.    I 
will  be  merciful  to  their  iniquities  and  their  sins 
will  I  remember  no  more.    Come  unto  me.  all  ye 
that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest.   Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of  me ;  for 
I  am  meek  and  lowly  of  heart,  and  you  shall  find 
rest  to  your  souls.    He  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will 
in  no  wise  cast  out.    If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins  and  to 
cleanse  m  from  all  unrighteousness.    The  blood  of 
Jesus,  his  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.    They 
washed  their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the 
Wood  of  the  Lamb.    The  Spirit  and  the  bride  say, 
Come.    And  let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come.    And 
et  him  that  h  athirst  come.    And  whosoever  will, 
let  him  take  the  water  of  life  freely." 

"Why."  said  she.  "it  seems  as  if  those  words 
were  written  just  for  me."  And  T  could  see  that  the 
peace  that  passes  all  understanding  had  come  into 
ner  heart. 

A  few  days  after,  she  wrote  me  that  the  cloud 
!^ad  settled  down  again  over  her  life  and  that  I 


.^  ;:/«&*< 


Ml 


64 


The  Joy  of  Forgiveness 


must  come.  I  repeated  to  her  again  the  beautiful 
words  of  grace,  and  again  she  drank  them  in.  But 
this  time  I  felt  that  we  must  go  farther.  We  knelt 
together,  and  after  1  had  prayed,  she  accepted  in 
prayer  these  promises  for  herself,  and  in  all  the 
dreadful  months  that  followed  she  had  a  joy  and 
peace  which  only  God  can  give. 

I  visited  her  somewhat  frequently.  The  cancer 
struck  more  deeply  into  !.er  very  life,  and  she  was 
in  great  pain.  I  shall  never  forget  the  last  time  I 
saw  her.  At  the  door  a  new  nurse  told  me  that  she 
was  suffering  too  much  for  mp  to  see  her.  "  Just 
tell  her  my  name,'*  I  said,  and  soon  I  was  ushered 
into  the  darkened  room.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  saw 
before,  and  only  once  since,  such  physical  agony. 
It  was  a  chamber  of  torture,  a  hell  of  pain.  I  went 
to  the  bed  and  said  to  her,  "Is  it  well  with  you? " 
To  which  she  replied,  "  You  need  not  be  afraid  for 
me,  I  am  not  afraid."  And  then  a  paroxysm  of 
aprony  bade  me  go. 

During  the  preceding  weeks  she  had  asked  me  to 
officiate  at  her  funeral,  but  I  persuaded  her  to  have 
her  own  pastor.  He  probably  never  knew  that  I 
called  on  her.  Soon  again  I  went  to  the  house  of 
pain,  now  at  last  the  houre  of  peace.  There  was 
a  large  company  there,  and  I  sat  unobserveu  in  the 
corner.  The  pastor  went  through  with  his  well- 
worn  platitudes  and  formal  eulogies  of  the  deceased, 


T?:'  JoyofForgiveneM 


65 

while  I  thought  how  little  he  knew  the  depth  of  the 
expenence  of  her  whom  he  .0  superficially  praC 

tme.  Napoleon  at  St  Helena  said,  "  ChriltianTv 
w,Il  never  perish,  so  beautiful  is  its  teacto^tfthe 
forgiveness  of  sins."  We  who  know  the  Kafser  can 
perhaps  realize  the  depth  of  feeling  J^  whfc^ 
Napoleon  said  it.    After  all,  we  murt  belL  int 

drLfi.l'  ''  "'  ^'^^  *™  «"'>  »»  their 

t^J^'lT'^-   "^^"'^  therefore  justified  (put 
m  „ght^„,at,on  to  God)  by  faith,  we  have  pL'ee 
with  God  .  .  .  and  rejoice  in  hope  of  his  glory 
ft™«gh  our  Uri  Jesus  Christ,  thn>ugh  whomwe 
have^now  received  the  reconciliation  "  (Rom.  ti, 

F.  L.  A. 


XVII 


QUENCH  NOT  THE  SPIRIT 


nr\i 

1. 


1  ThessalonUins  5  :  19 

\HE  figure  of  speech  here  is  unmistakable. 
"  Quench  "  is  a  tenn  used  with  reference  to 
fire.  The  Spirit,  capital  S,  the  Spirit  of  God, 
is  a  Fire,  and  Paul  urges  the  Christians  at  Thessa- 
lonica  not  to  diminish  or  to  extinguish  the  holy 
flame.  Fire  is  an  appropriate  symbol  of  God,  in  its 
immateriality,  beauty,  power.  Moses  became  aware 
of  God's  presence  at  the  burning  bush.  The  Holy 
Spirit  rested  upon  the  first  Christians  in  tongues 
as  of  fire. 

All  effective  servant  of  God  are  men  of  fire. 
There  are  differences  of  temperament;  one  man  is 
a  blaze  of  enthusiasm,  another  is  the  steady  glow  of 
a  quiet  purpose.  They  have  a  divine  attractiveness ; 
every  one  is  drawn  by  the  light  and  warmth  of 
Christian  earnestness.  Isaiah's  usefulness  began 
when  the  coal  from  off  the  altar  was  placed  upon 
his  lips.  T-)  Jeremiah  the  word  of  God  was  as  a 
fire  within  his  bones.  John  the  Baptist  was  a  burn- 
ing and  a  shining  light.  When  John  Wesley's  heart 
66 


ftuench  Not  the  Spirit 


67 

was  "strangely  warmed  "  at  the  meeting  in  Fettei^ 
Lane  the  Methodist  movement  began.  Vs  H^ 
Martyn  stepped  on  the  shore  of  India  he  said,  "  ^ 
let  me  bum  out  for  God." 

We  began  well.    Where  God  really  does  a  work  in 
men's  hearts  a  fire  is  kinHio^     m 
ardor  of  our  fyJlL^^  "  '"'"'""^'  "•» 

Christ  knZ     Witl  ?  r  ""'"  '"^''  *°  """'^ 
i  imown.    With  a  glowing  purpose  we  dedi 

bTr^f^^iT''  *™"«^''  '^*  "'  ^''"-   IT-^  0"  must 
be  rep,«„rted  or  the  lamp  will  go  out.    It  is  not 

th,^l    ?.V""^  "^  "''  *"  o"  o'™  «™'=-    Only  i 
the  truth  which  enters  vitally  into  our  experience  il 

iTis To?l  f  ""°  "^  ^"""""^"t  P«rt».  but 

beaut^l^Tr  '"  '"'"  *°  "^  '"^  ^'"«  of  if 

and  poet  to  whom  the  meanest  flower  that  blor/, 

to  mTi  ™'""  "'  ^^'■-   God  has  spoken 

himself  "„T''  ""'f^'  '"'""''  "*  "»»  " 
nimself,  m  tlie  world's  libraries  t  <•  In  fi,«  t-  • 

voices  Of  nature  and  of  merhTs  tU  iMhe Te! 


-4 

J 


68 


Cluench  Not  the  Spirit 


by  which  the  fires  of  the  soul  are  kept  burning. 
Prayer  also,  both  personal  and  social,  is  needful  in 
the  attainment  of  an  ardent  life.  Great  influences 
for  good  have  come  out  of  students'  prayer-groups, 
whether  at  the  Williams  Haystack  or  at  Oxford  in 
the  days  of  the  first  Methodists.  To  have  a  hot  fire 
one  must  heap  up  the  coals.  Remove  even  a  glow- 
ing coal  from  its  comrades,  and  it  begins  at  once  to 
turn  cold  and  black.  It  is  not  true  that  a  man  can 
neglect  social  worship  and  not  lose  by  it. 

Another  thing  which  quenches  the  Spirit  is 
formalism.  No  doubt  forms  of  many  kinds  are  es- 
sential to  the  preservation  and  the  propagation  of 
religion.  But  the  peril  ever  remains  that  the  vital 
spirit  of  our  activity  may  depart  and  leave  noth- 
ing but  an  empty  husk,  an  offense  alike  to  God  and 
man.  Formalism  is  a  painted  fireplace,  it  is  the 
form  of  godliness  without  its  power.  Habit  is  a 
noble  device,  it  enables  us  to  master  a  field  of  ac- 
tivity and  make  it  a  kind  of  second  nature,  leaving 
us  free  to  go  on  and  make  new  conquests.  It  has 
been  said  that  there  is  nothing  so  perilous  as  a  bad 
habit  except  a  good  one.  In  religion  it  leads  us  to 
do  things  without  putting  heart  into  them.  Profes- 
sionalism is  one  of  our  chief  dangers.  This  is  a 
fact  pertinent  to  members  of  the  faculty  as  well  as 
to  students.  It  is  incumbent  upon  us  to  present 
truth  in  ways  that  do  not  harden  the  heart  with 


ftuenoh  Not  the  Spirit 


69 

mere  fomal  knowledge.    What  we  need  in  class- 
room  and  pulpit  is  reality,  spontaneity,  fervency 
powel^    We  can  never  kindle  men  with  an  icicle,  we 
must  do  It  with  a  flame. 

The  spirit  of  criticism  also  quenches  the  divine 
fire  m  the  hearts  of  men.    There  is  u  kind  of  criti- 
cism  mdispensable  to  a  minister,  he  does  not  get 
nearly  enough  of  it.  a  criticism  which  shows  him  his 
faulte  and  the  remedy  for  them.    He  ought  to  learn 
much  from  the  most  harsh  and  censorious  judg- 
ments  pronounced  upon  him;  it  is  altogether  likely 
that  there  ,s  some  truth  in  them.    There  is  no  future 
for  any  minister  who  will  not  tolerate  criticism  or 
learn  from  it.    At  the  same  time,  human  experience 
everywhere  bears  witness  to  the  power  of  unsym- 
pathetic  criticism  to  quench  spiritual  self-expres- 

?n\    ^'^.r  ^'"'  "'"""'  ''  ""'^  th^  t^o  precepts 
together:  "Quench  not  the  Spirit  .  .  .  despise  not 

Prophesymgs."     The   Thessalonians   to   whom   he 

wrote  were  converts  from  paganism,  no  doubt  a  raw 

set  in  many  ways.     Their  first  utterances  were 

crude,  perfervid.  ill  balanced.    They  needed  instruc- 

TlT    '"''T"^'''''''-  "''  ^^"^^"^P*  ^"d  rebuke. 
A  fir^^s  usually  smoky  at  first,  but  give  it  time,  and 

will  burn  itself  clear.    Probably  the  same  thing 

ure"b„t^H"';"  '"'  "''"°"^-    ^^^^  -^  --a 
tu  e.  but  the  fire  is  there;  some  day  it  will  be  an 

-ntonse  and  transforming  flame.    "How  long  hnvo 


hi 


70 


Quench  Not  the  Spirit 


you  been  preaching? "  asked  Beecher  of  a  young 
minister.  "Ten  years,"  was  the  reply.  "A  fair 
start,  a  fair  start,"  said  the  great  preacher.  There 
is  an  inner  reaction  to  the  harsh  and  unbrotherly 
criticism  in  which  we  sometimes  indulge,  we  can 
feel  our  spiritual  temperature  fall  as  a  result  of  it. 

The  Spirit  is  quenched  also  by  disobedience.    If 
we  depart  consciously  from  God's  ways,  the  fire 
sinks  toward  the  ashes.     A  candle  will  not  bum 
when  lowered  into  the  gases  which  sometimes  accu- 
mulate at  the  bottom  of  a  well,  and  then  men  rightly 
refuse  to  descend  into  it;  neither  can  the  heavenly 
'  ame  bum  in  the  impure  depths  of  a  disobedient 
fe.     We  may  fall  into  some  form  of  self-indul- 
gence, we  may  refuse  some  form  of  service  which 
to  us  a  call  of  God;  the  result  is  an  abatement  of 
iritual  ardor  which  our  friends  may  not  under- 
s^nd  but  which  God  knows  is  due  to  disobedience, 
aul'.^  words  are  negative  in  their  form,  but  they 
strr   arly  positive  in  their  meaning.    What  he 
re.  11:         ^  is  this:  Let  the  Holy  Fire,  which  is  God 
hir:  sei:  m  you,  flame  with  ever-increasing  power  in 
your     ^e.    Thus  we  shall  be  able  to  kindle  other 
lives  and  we  shall  be  truly  Godlike. 

R.  M.  V. 


XVIII 
DOUBT  IN  THE  SEMINARY 

IT  is  often  said  that  some  students  in  our  theo- 
logical seminaries  are  much  disturbed  by  new 
views,  and  even  that  they  lose  their  message  or 
their  faith;  and  some  of  our  own  men  are  some- 
times reported  to  have  the  same  experience.    This 
IS  a  serious  matter,  and  I  deeply  sympathize  with 
such  men.    When  I  was  in  college,  for  some  years  I 
lived  m  Doubt  Street,  and  I  know  all  about  it.    It 
is  the  coldest  street  in  town.    The  wind  which  whis- 
tles down  it  freezes  the  very  marrow  of  your  bones. 
I  have  had  some  passing  troubles  of  the  same  kind 
since  then.    Only  last  week,  I  had  a  qualm  over  a 
new  truth  put  more  strongly  and  sharply  than  I  had 
suspected  possible,  but  I  have  come  to  look  on  such 
experiences,  while  serious,  as  growing  pains.    They 
show  that  my  crust  is  not  yet  impervious,  that  I  still 
have  an  open  mind,  and  may  still  modify  or  enlarge 
my  outlook. 

In  our  own  seminary  it  is  noticeable  that  most- 
not  all— of  those  who  go  through  these  troubles  are 
those  who  have  not  taken  the  entire  course  here, 

71 


w 


72 


Doubt  in  the  Seminary 


!, 
! 


Who  have  not  had  the  thorough  grounding  of  our 
junior  year,  especially  in  biblical  studies.  I  have 
also  observed  that  the  complaint  is  never  made  by 
graduates  of  our  great  northern  universities,  like 
Harvard,  Yale,  and  Chicago.  Such  students  have 
met  all  these  questions  in  college  and  come  to  us  all 
at  sea.  They  are  glad  to  find  that  we  understand 
the  whole  situation  and  can  lead  them  along  till 
their  feet  stand  on  solid  foundations.  Nothing  is 
more  delightful  than  the  sincere  gratitude  of  these 
men. 

Now  let  us  face  the  matter  squarely.    You  will 
be  compelled  to  meet  these  new  views  some  time  and 
somewhere.    Where  and  when  can  you  meet  them 
so  well  as  in  the  seminary,  where  >ou  have  time  to 
think  and  read,  and  where  you  are  under  the  expert 
guidance  of  mature  and  out-and-out  Christian  men? 
Of  course,  the  first  instinct,  when  a  new  view  is  pre- 
sented, is  to  refuse  to  think,  to  wave  it  aside,  to 
stick  your  head  in  the  sand  like  an  ostrich,  to  turn 
your  mind  to  other  things.    Why  do  we  not  let  you 
do  it?    Why  do  we  persist  in  annoying  you  with 
these  problems,  when  it  would  be  temporarily  easier 
for  you  and  very  much  pleasanter  for  us  to  follow 
the  old  beaten  tracks?    Because  we  are  trying  to 
make  leaders  out  of  you.    If  we  were  educating  you 
to  teach  primaiy  departments  in  the  Sunday  School 
or  even  grammar-school  children,  we  might  merely 


Doubt  in  the  Seminary  73 

review  and  classify  what  you  already  know.  But 
we  are  sending  you  out  to  meet  the  real  rren,  the 
leading  educated  men  of  your  communities,  gradu- 
ates  of  our  best  colleges  and  universities.  We  are 
preparing  you  to  look  them  squarely  in  the  eyes,  to 
meet  them  on  their  own  level,  to  know  what  they 
are  thinking  in  the  back  of  their  minds,  to  present 
truth  m  such  a  way  as  to  1-^d  them  into  the  king- 
dom. * 

You  cannot  run  away  from  these  problems.    You 
may  say.  "  I  will  take  a  country  pastorate."  but  you 
will  find  these  problems  there.    Two  or  three  nights 
ago  I  stepped  into  the  kitchen  of  a  small  farmer  and 
found  the  "Survey"  lying  on  the  kitchen-table. 
His  wife  had  been  reading  it.    You  may  say.  « I  will 
go  South."    But  the  most  intelligent  people  in  the 
South  are  discussing  these  things  and  reading  the 
leading  magazines.    You  may  think  to  find  refuge 
m  the  foreign  field,  but  nowhere  is  Christianity  sub- 
jected  to  so  fierce  a  criticism  as  in  India.  China,  and 
Japan.    It  would  not  be  safe  to  try  to  escape  even  to 
Africa.    Bishop  Colenso  went  to  Africa  a  rigid  con- 
servative, but  some  of  the  intelligent  black  men 
pointed  out  such  discrepancies  in  the  Old  Testament 
which  he  had  taught  them  to  read,  that  the  bishop 
was  forced  to  think  about  them  and  became  one  of 
he  gi-eat  factors  in  Old  Testament  criticism,  under 
the  impulse  of  straight-thinking  Africans.  In  fact  if 


fi 


lili 

I!:, 


i 
i  ' 


74 


Doubt  in  the  Seminary 


you  have  begun  to  think  about  these  new  views  and 
are  an  honest  man,  you  have  an  incurable  disease. 
You  will  never  be  able  to  stop  thinking  or  have  any 
rest,  till  you  come  to  conclusions  with  them. 

And  where  can  you  come  to  conclusions  better 
than  in  this  institution?  Here  are  the  professors 
who  have  spent  their  time  for  years  with  these 
problems,  getting  at  the  facts,  reading  and  weigh- 
ing all  the  views,  and  coming  out  at  last  noble, 
strong  Christian  men,  with  wide  outlook  and  firm 
in  faith.  Every  one  of  them  has  a  message  definite, 
clear,  and  compelling,  which  they  preach  not  only 
with  confidence,  but  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory.  And  they  are  ready  and  glad  to  tell  you 
how  they  have  come  through  the  maze  into  the  place 
of  clearness  and  certainty. 

But  some  of  you  may  object  that  you  do  not  like 
the  conclusions  of  the  professors  altogether,  that 
they  do  not  come  out  where  you  start.  Now,  of 
course,  the  members  of  the  faculty  are  not  at  one  in 
all  their  detailed  conclusions,  but  in  the  large  sense 
they  are  very  well  agreed  on  the  important  positions 
concerning  God,  and  Christ,  and  the  revelation  in 
the  Scripture,  and  the  way  of  salvation  which  we 
are  to  proclaim  to  men.  They  do  not  demand  that 
you  agree  with  them,  but  in  these  extremely  com- 
plex and  difficult  matters  they  stand  ready  to  show 
you  at  least  one  way  of  solving  them,  a  way  which 


Doubt  in  the  Seminary 


75 


has  given  them  as  Christian  men  solid  satisfaction 
and  certainty.  And  we  ask  you  to  consider  at  least 
whether  that  way  may  not  be  feasible  for  you. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  you  are  right  in  the  sub- 
stance of  truth  for  which  you  stand  and  for  which 
our  fathers  stood,  and  there  is  every  reason  why 
you  should  passionately  cling  to  it,  but  you  ought  to 
be  willing  to  ask  yourselves  the  question  whether 
you  are  not  concealing  and  imperiling  the  sub- 
stance of  truth  by  insisting  upon  an  outworn  form. 
The  fact  is  that  a  vast  deal  of  present  theological 
debate  is  concerned  with  secondary  philosophizings, 
with  questions  about  the  best  presentations  of  truth 
and  the  most  valid  proofs  for  our  religious  ideas. 
These  have  too  much  beclouded  matters  far  more 
important  and  primary.    One  of  our  great  efforts 
here  is  to  differentiate  between  the  primary  and  the 
secondary,  to  put  the  first  things  first  and  to  see 
clearly  what  really  matters. 

I  hear  a  good  deal  about  coming  to  the  seminary 
to  get  a  message  or  about  losing  one's  message  in 
the  seminary.  Those  phrases  strike  me  as  very  ex- 
ternal. You  cannot  get  a  message  from  a  book  or 
even  from  a  teacher.  Your  message  must  be  your 
own  living  experience,  so  rich  and  full  that  you  can- 
not but  speak  it  to  men.  You  can  not  preach  unless 
you  have  something  to  give,  unless  you  have  in  your 
o^^^l  hearts  so  great  a  blessing,  so  overmastering  a 


MICROCOPY   RESOLUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No    2) 


1.0 


I.I 


1^ 

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If       1^ 


21      111112.5 


2.2 
2.0 

1.8 


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1.4 


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A  /APPLIED  IM/^GE     Inc 

^~',  '653   East    Woin    Street 

~.S  f^ochester,    Ne*    York         U609        USA 

•.^=  (':6!   482  -  OJOO  -  Phone 

SaS  ('i6)    288  -  5989  -  Fa« 


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76 


Doubt  in  the  Seminaxy 


r  *' 


purpose,  so  beautifu.'  :  vision,  that  speak  you  must. 
If  you  have  no  message,  you  ought  not  to  go  into  the 
ministry.    If  you  can  go  into  real  estate  or  insur- 
ance with  a  good  conscience,  in  the  name  of  a  dying 
world,  do  not  fail  to  go  and  go  now.    This  has  al- 
ways been  my  view  of  the  matter.    Some  time  since 
I  was  asked  to  go  to  Providence  to  talk  to  a  Brown 
University  student  about  his  entering  the  minis- 
try.   He  began  to  talk  on  a  low  plane,  to  make  this 
and  that  objection.    Finally  to  his  vast  surprise,  I 
said,  "  Don't  preach,  if  you  can  possibly  help  it." 
After  his  amazement  was  over,  he  seemed  to  feel 
greatly  relieved,  and  I  felt  that  I  had  done  a  good 
day's  work  in  keeping  out  of  the  ministry  a  man 
whose  heart  was  not  in  it.    Only  those  whom  God 
has  called  should  preach.    Only  those  to  whom  God 
has  given  a  message  should  dare  to  speak  for  him. 

F.  L.  A. 


14  ■ 

"I 


'■^!if!3sie^^sm^mmnM^ma^^imsssmi'S^m 


XIX 


THE  METHOD  OF  SPIRITUAL  CERTAINTY 

IT  is  singular  that  so  many  of  the  biographies  of 
spiritually  minded  men  should  record,  in  vary- 
ing phrases  and  incident,  a  common  experience. 
It  runs  something  like  this:  The  man  was  torn  be- 
tween faith  and  doubt;  he  struggled  for  certainty, 
estimating  the  evidences  for  his  belief,  but  still  the 
touch  upon  his  soul  that  transforms  a  probability 
mto  a  certainty  was  wanting,  until,  worn  by  thought 
he  betook  himself  to  prayer,  or  to  the  actual  per- 
formance of  some  unwelcome  task  under  the  sense 
of  duty,  and  in  a  moment  he  found  his  doubts 
vanish,  and  his  soul  saw  the  truth,  in  conviction  of 
which  he  could  never  afterward  be  shaken.    So  uni- 
form is  this  experience  in  the  record  of  the  inner 
life  of  spiritual  men  that  it  might  justly  be  called 
their  common  characteristic.    Certainly  it  does  not 
come  by  reading  or  study  or  balance  of  probabili- 
ties, it  comes  as  a  revelation  from  on  high  to  the 
ooul  that  surrenders  itself  to  God. 

Today  one  of  the  crucial  questions  in  religion  is 
the  seat  of  authority  in  spiritual  things.    The  pow6r 

77 


ff4>5  r.-**)'!^;' 


il' 

|;i  ■ 

:i  ' 

'  r 
'J 

ii 


The  Method  of  Spiritual  Certainty 


of  ecclesiastical  assumption  and  tradition  has  been 
indefinitely  weakened.  You  can  hardly  engage  in 
a  serious  conversation  upon  spiritual  things  with- 
out coming  on  this  underlying  pervasive  difficulty 
of  the  modern  mind,  )\Tiat  is  the  final  ground  of  cer- 
titude?   In  what  are  we  ultimately  to  trust? 

May  it  not  be,  however,  that  we  are  looking  for 
something  that  God  has  not  given  men?  Is  it  not 
possible  that  God  has  intended  that  the  human  soul 
Bhall  not  at*  in  to  a  certainty  in  spiritual  things 
except  by  absolute  self-surrender  to  them?  Jesus 
says,  •'  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall 
spe  God,"  but,  if  the  pure  heart  is  the  organ  of 
spiritual  vision,  are  we  not,  in  seeking  to  see  God 
with  impure  hearts,  like  men  who  complain  that 
there  is  no  clear  vision,  because  their  own  eyes  are 
clouded  with  cataracts?  In  other  words,  is  certainty 
as  to  the  spiritual  things  possible  for  those  who  have 
not  taken  the  venture  of  faith?  Is  it  reasonable  to 
expect  that  God  has  furnished  men  with  external 
demonstrations  of  the  truth  to  take  the  place  of  the 
inner  certainty  that  comes  from  yielding  oneself  to 
the  truth  that  one  has? 

The  desire  for  some  external  fallible  authority  to 
which  we  shall  be  forced  to  surrender,  is,  more 
largely  than  we  often  apprehend,  the  desire  to  gain 
the  rewards  of  faith  without  walking  in  the  ways 
of  faith.    It  is  always  pertinent  to  ask  him  who  is 


i>.'."3?^- 


■.' Wy^^  '^i:':-.^i^'^^' 


The  Method  of  Spiritual  Certainty 


79 


lamenting  the  decline  of  extenial  authority,  whether 
he  regrets  it  for  himself  or  for  others;  whether  he 
thmks  the  way  to  certainty  is  closed  for  himself,  or 
a  certain  coercive  power  over  the  convictions  of 
others  has  been  taken  away.    If  he  seeks  certainty 
for  himself,  the  way  is  still  open,  not  by  appealing 
to  any  words  of  men,  or  any  documents,  but  by  per- 
sonal surrender  to  the  truth  he  has.    If  his  regret  is 
that  in  the  weakening  of  external  authority  the 
claim  of  religion  upon  the  life  of  men  at  large  is 
impaired,  it  is  proper  to  call  his  attention  to  the  fact 
that  when  external  authority  was  at  its  maximum 
Christianity  was  not  more  efficient  or  more  spirit- 
ual than  it  is  today. 

God  has  so  made  men  that  spiritual  certainty  is 
only  achieved  through  a  spiritual  process  and  ex- 
perience.   He  has  intentionally  revealed  the  truths 
of  religion  in  a  form  which  is  not  capable  of  a 
mathematical  demonstration.     There  is  place  for 
affection,  moral  impulse,  and  the  venture  of  faith. 
Why  should  we  hesitate  to  accept  Paul's  strong  af- 
firmation that  "  The  natural  man  receiveth  not  the 
things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  for  they  are  foolishness 
unto  him;  and  he  cannot  know  them  because  they 
are  spiritually  judged"  (1  Cor.  2  :  14).    This  is 
not  more  sweeping  than  our  Lord's  assertion,  "  Ex- 
cept a  man  be  bom  from  above,  he  cannot  see  the 
kingdom  of  God."    But  the  same  voice  said,  "  He 


I>   ! 


Ill 

■J 

P 

lit 


:3r:.'^>> 


I 


80         The  Method  of  Spiritual  Certainty 

that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  the  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life"  (John  8  :  12). 
The  problem  that  perplexes  many  a  thinker  is  how 
to  gain  the  light  of  life  without  following  Christ. 

G.  cj.  H. 


XX 


THE  ROBUSTNESS  OF  FAITH 


Mark  11  :  22 

ROBUSTNESS  is  an  unfailing  test  of  Chris- 
tian  faith.  There  is  nothing  anemic  about 
it.  It  does  not  seek  shelter  from  the  rough 
winds  of  life.  Though  it  does  not  deliberately  seek 
the  hard  husks  which  form  the  pessimist's  chosen 
diet,  neither  does  it  favor  the  predigested  food  on 
which  optimism  thrives.  It  lives  in  the  world  as 
It  actually  is  and  has  a  healthy  appetite  for  all  the 
facts. 

The  pessimist  has  been  described  as  one  "with 
a  selected  past,  a  soiled  today,  and  a  spoiled  to- 
morrow."  Each  count  in  this  indictment  is  true 
The  past  is  distorted.  In  the  mixed  weave  of  human 
chronicles  the  pessimist  sees  only  the  black  threads 
and  deliberately  or  temperamentally  ignores  the 
white  ones.  Rereads  history  with  bilious  preju- 
dice.  He  is  thereby  unfitted  either  to  know  or  to 
enjoy  his  own  age;  and  as  for  the  future,  he  takes 
counsel  only  of  his  fears  and  predilections  and  fore- 
sees little  that  is  bright.    This  attitude  undermines 

p 

81 


;l  - 


82 


The  BobnstneM  of  Faith 


his  character,  embitters  his  life,  weakens  his  ser- 
vice.   Pessimism  is  in  essence  lack  of  faith  in  God. 

Shall  we  quickly  conclude  then  that  optimism  is 
synonymous  with  faith?  That  is  far  from  the  truth. 
Optimism,  though  more  cheerful  than  pessimism, 
falls  into  similar  errors.  It  is  equally  one-sided.  It 
prejudges  past,  present,  and  future  as  wilfully, 
though  from  a  different  angle.  Availing  ourselves 
again  of  the  artful  aid  of  apt  alliteration,  we  may 
define  the  optimist  as  one  with  "  a  fabulous  yester- 
day, a  false  today,  and  a  fatuous  tomorrow."  He 
notices  only  white  threads  in  history's  pattern,  he 
spends  his  days  in  a  fool's  paradise,  and  beholds  the 
future  through  rosy  lenses. 

The  man  of  faith  is  of  sterner  stuff.  For  him, 
God  is  the  God  of  reality.  The  whole  truth,  so  far 
as  he  can  discover  it,  is  the  medium  in  which  his 
soul  touches  God.  All  the  strands,  black,  white,  and 
gray,  are  noted  that  he  may  ascertain  the  pattern 
and  cooperate  with  God  in  the  weaving.  As  he 
thus  sei-ves,  he  becomes  hopeful ;  and  the  source  of 
his  hope  is  not  his  temperament,  not  a  catlike  desire 
for  a  comfortable  present,  not  a  weakling's  wish  for 
an  unruffled  tomorrow,  but  a  robust  trust  in  the  liv- 
ing God.  Such  a  faith  is  r  '  jlooded.  It  is  strong 
to  bear  the  truth,  to  kno^  ill  the  facts,  to  endure 
unfulfilled  expectations  ant  deferred  hopes.  Manet 
immota  fides.    In  all  storms  it  holds  on,  in  darkest 


f  cj-v  1 


The  BobuttnMi  of  Faith 


83 


nights  it  sings.    It  is  more  moral  than  pessimism, 
more  Christian  than  optimism. 

The  relation  of  the  man  of  faith  to  past,  present, 
and  future  is  sturdy  and  virile.  To  him  we  may 
fitly  apply  Wordsworth's  line,  enlarging  it  to  make 
it  parallel  to  the  definitions  given  above,  and  call 
him  "  a  man  of  cheerful  yesterdays,  constructive  to- 
days, and  confident  tomorrows." 

W.B. 


XXI 


THE  LIBERTY  OF  POWER 


V    ' 


"  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love  "  (Gal.  5  :  22). 

FREEDOM  is  not,  primarily,  a  matter  of  out- 
ward conditions.  It  is  not  a  thing  which  can 
be  bestowed  upon  others  merely  V  arrang- 
ing for  them  some  favorable  environmt.il.  Liberty 
is  first  of  all  a  fact  of  the  soul. 

And  from  one  point  of  view  it  is  a  matter  of 
power.  The  relation  of  freedom  and  power  in  the 
various  realms  of  life  immediately  comes  to  mind. 
We  see  it  in  finances,  literature,  armies,  and  me- 
chanics. 

Paul  found  in  his  experience  under  the  law  that, 
while  he  could  meet  the  requirements  of  the  law  as 
to  external  matters,  yet  in  the  profounder  activities 
he  was  impotent.  In  the  matter  of  bringing  pur- 
poses and  feelings  into  such  harmony  with  ideals 
that  they  would  really  function  in  life  he  found  him- 
self a  bankrupt.  The  law  was  not  a  liberating  but 
an  enslaving  force.  "  If  there  had  been  given  a 
law  which  could  make  alive,  then  salvation  would 
have  been  through  the  law  ";  but  a  set  of  rules  and 
84 


l^i. 


i?'^ 


The  Liberty  of  Power 


85 


regulations  has  no  power.  Its  "  inability  "  is  just 
the  characteristic  of  the  law.  A  set  of  rules  placed 
upon  the  heart  is  without  power  to  cause  that  organ 
to  function. 

But  Christ  imparts  power  and  thereby  makes  one 
free.  The  law  says  "  Love,"  but  it  is  only  as  the 
spirit  of  love  is  imparted  that  one  finds  the  life- 
force  from  which  love  grows  as  a  fruit.  In  the 
vitality  of  this  living  power  there  is  freedom. 

There  are  two  descriptive  phrases  culled  from  two 
modern  writers  which  state  this  feature  of  the 
Christian  life. 

The  first  is  moral  creativity.    This  expression  de- 
scribes God  in  action.    He  is  moral  creativity.    The 
Christian  experience  is  the  inward  realization  of 
this  moral  creativity.    "  Work  out  your  own  salva- 
tion with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  who  is 
at  work  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do,  for  his  good 
pleasure."    "  He  who  said.  Let  light  shine,  shone  in 
our  hearts."     When  this  moral  creativity  i^  at 
work  within,  there  is  realized  that  power  w»    .h  is 
true  liberty.    Note  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit :  love,  jo\ 
peace,  long-suflFering,  kindness,  goodness,  faithful- 
ness, meekness,  self-control.    Is  not  this  the  ver 
vocabulary  of  freedom?    Truly,  in  regard  to  sue- 
there  is  no  law.    They  are  entirely  outside  the  c&U 
gory  of  constraint.    But  the  works  of  the  flesh  fur- 
nish us  the  vocabulary  of  bondage. 


! 


II' ; 


86 


I  '- 
r  I 


The  Libwty  of  Power 


But  moral  creativity  is  more  than  the  de\eloi)- 
ment  of  one's  own  personality.  It  means  action 
upon  others  in  which  these  creative  forces  operate 
to  bring  moral  results  in  others.  Paul  says  of  his 
preaching  in  Thessalonica  that  it  was  in  demonstra- 
tion of  spirit  and  power.  The  vital  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  working  through  him  upon  his 
hearers.  There  is  no  liberty  which  compares  with 
this  power  of  bringing  things  to  pass  in  the  moral 
life  of  another. 

The  second  expression  is  moral  originality.  The 
Pharisees  attempted  to  card-catalogue  the  whole 
area  of  man's  activity.  An  ideal  Pharisee  was  one 
who  had  mastered  this  index  and  was  able  to  turn 
to  it  in  any  circumstance  of  life.  But  a  life  so  re- 
duced to  precedents  finds  itself  in  bondage  to  the 
vain  traditions  of  the  fathers.  The  lament,  "  There 
is  nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  came  out  of  bond- 
age; but  the  freeman  of  the  gospel  is  always  sing- 
ing, "  All  things  have  bee        new." 

The  gospel  is  characterizeu  by  moral  originality 
because  it  is  a  religion  of  power,  of  the  Spirit. 
There  can  be  no  two  Christians  alikt.  One  is  not 
the  copy  of  another,  but  each  is  a  fresn  creation. 
Each  genuine  Christian  act  is  original.  It  was 
never  done  before,  and  it  is  never  to  be  done  again. 
Yet  each  Christian  and  each  Christian  act  coi.- 
forms  to  type.    There  are  no  two  oak  leaves  alike. 


II 


Tte  Liberty  of  Power 


87 


and  yet  each  one  is  an  oak  leat.  They  aru  not  made 
by  a  pattern,  but  are  the  product  of  inner  forces. 

The  inexhaustible  resources  of  God  are  at  work 
in  the  Christian,  and  the  fruit  of  that  spirit  is  love. 
Each  act  of  love  is  a  fresh  creation.  It  is  never  a 
copy  of  a  model.  In  this  moral  originality  is  dis- 
covered  the  freedom  which  makes  the  Christian  life 
fresh  and  strong,  ever  full  of  glad  surprises,  for  it 
is  participating  in  the  inexhaustible  resources  of 
God's  power. 

It  is  this  liberty  of  power  we  would  bring  to  this 

world. 

J.  P.  B. 


-'^u'-S^-, 


Ml 


XXII 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  EXPECTATION 


"  My  soul,  wait  thou  onhj  upon  God:  for  my  ex- 
pectation is  from  him  "  (Ps.  62  :  5). 

EXPECTATION  is  the  power  and  the  joy  of 
life.  Ma"  cannot  confine  himself,  like  the 
field-mouse,  to  the  present.  He  lives  also 
in  the  past,  and  especially  in  the  future.  As  a  for- 
ward-looking man,  Paul  said  that  we  were  saved 
by  hope.  There  are  many  definitions  of  faith,  but 
few  are  better  than  this— the  spirit  of  expectancy. 
What  do  we  desire  and  confidently  expect?  The 
real  measure  of  a  man  is  not  his  achievement  but 
his  aspiration.    The  expectation  is  the  man. 

Expectation  must  have  an  adequate  basis,  if  it 
is  not  to  be  a  fool's  paradise.  It  is  too  noble  a 
structure  to  rest  on  thin  air.  God  is  the  true  foun- 
dation of  justifiable  expectation.  The  most  impor- 
tant question  for  any  man  is  the  nature  of  the  Reality 
from  which  the  world  proceeds  and  which  is  bound 
to  have  the  last  word  in  human  life.  It  is  of  no  use 
to  fight  the  Nature  of  Things.  Our  prospects  in  a 
universe  without  God  are  vividly  expressed  by  Ber- 
88 


The  Spirit  of  Expectation 


89 


trand  Russell:  "Brief  and  powerless  is  man's  life; 
on  him  and  all  his  race  the  slow,  sure  doom  falls 
pitiless  and  dark.  Blind  to  good  and  evil,  reckless  of 
destruction,  omnipotent  matter  rolls  on  its  relent- 
less way."  There  is  not  much  basis  for  expectation 
here. 

But  if  the  Christian  way  of  looking  at  things  is 
true,  and  it  is,  expectation  has  ground  on  which  to 
stand.  There  is  a  purposive,  righteous,  loving  God 
in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  He 
aims  to  make  us  sharers  in  his  own  glorious  life, 
to  establish  an  eternal  fellowship  of  personalities. 
Nor  is  he  mere  ineffectual  good  intentions.  He 
has  adequate  power,  infinite  resources.  His  char- 
acter and  his  purpose  are  clearly  manifest  in  Jesus. 
How  can  we  fail  to  be  expectant  when  we  think  of 
such  a  God?  "We  canna  think  better  than  God 
wull  dae,"  said  good  Marget  Howe  of  Drumtochty. 
"  We  cannot  think  better  than  God  will  do  "—it  was 
her  way  of  saying  that  God  is  able  to  do  exceedingly 
abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  even  think. 

Expectation  is  built  also  upon  our  active  coopera- 
tion with  God.  It  takes  both  God  and  man  to  bring 
things  to  pass  in  the  moral  world.  If  we  fail  to  do 
our  part,  what  right  have  we  to  expect  anything 
desirable?  God  feeds  the  birds,  but  he  does  not 
throw  the  food  into  their  nests.  They  must  rise  be- 
times and  seek  it.    We  must  sow  and  water  in  order 


90 


The  Spirit  of  Expectation 


that  God  may  give  the  increase.  The  idler  is  always 
a  pessimist,  and  the  worker  an  optimist.  To  at- 
tempt great  things  for  God  and  to  expect  great 
things  from  God  are  two  things  which  always  go 
together.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Chris- 
tian workers  who  seek  to  save  the  most  broken  lives 
are  the  most  radiant  folks  we  have.  Who  ever  saw 
a  pessimistic  Salvation  Army  lass?  It  was  the  arm- 
chair strategists  at  home  who  despaired  of  winning 
the  war;  the  boys  at  the  front,  God  bless  them,  never 
had  a  doubt  of  it.  Our  missionaries  are  a  happy  and 
expectant  band.  There  is  something  about  working 
with  God  which  has  the  gladdening  power  of  filling 
our  hearts  with  hope. 

The  forms  in  which  expectation  finds  expression 
are  both  social  and  personal.  The  psalms  fre- 
quently voice  a  national  hope  even  when  the  singular 
personal  pronoun  is  used.  In  this  very  song  the 
people  are  bidden  to  trust  in  God  at  all  times.  It 
never  occurred  to  an  Old  Testament  saint  that  he 
could  find  his  highest  good  apart  from  the  fellow- 
ship of  a  neople  of  God.  We  cannot  think  of  our- 
selves alG..d  when  we  say  that  our  expectation  is 
from  God. 

I  always  associate  this  psalm  with  Allen  Gardi- 
ner, the  first  missionary  to  Terra  del  Fuego.  The 
natives  were  hostile,  the  land  storm-swept.  He 
died  of  starvation,  having  apparently  accomplished 


The  Spirit  of  Expeotation 


91 


nothing.  But  upon  the  rock  at  whose  base  they 
found  his  body  the  words  were  written. 

My  soul,  wait  thou  only  upon  God; 
For  my  expectation  is  from  him. 

His  trust  was  not  misplaced,  other  workers  took  up 
the  task.  They  effected  such  wonderful  transfor- 
mations that  Charles  Darwin,  who  once  despaired 
of  the  Fuegians,  expressed  his  profound  surprise 
and  became  a  regular  contributor  to  the  missiotiary 
society  which  had  the  work  in  charge.  Allen  Gardi- 
ner's expectation  was  not  in  vain,  God  answered  his 
prayer. 

Today  the  hearts  of  men  are  troubled  by  the 
lowering  clouds  of  social  unrest  everywhere.  Is  our 
civilization  to  lapse  into  barbarism,  as  did  the 
Grseco-Roman?  We  have  something  which  an- 
tiquity did  not  get  in  time— the  sense  of  the  value 
of  man;  in  other  words,  we  have  love.  We  have 
Jesus,  what  he  was,  and  what  he  stood  for;  Jesus, 
who  lived  and  died  for  men.  God  has  marvelously 
helped  us  in  recent  months.  Germany  was  beaten 
from  the  inside  as  well  as  from  the  outside,  beaten 
by  spiritual  as  well  as  by  physical  forces.  Already 
we  catch  glimpses  of  the  sweep  of  the  divine  purpose 
—the  establishment  of  democracy  both  political  and 
economic,  the  organization  of  a  league  of  nations  as 
the  visible  political  expression  of  a  world-wide  king- 


;!i 


4. 

I 


92 


The  Spirit  of  Expectation 


dom  of  God.  What  we  see  in  the  sweat  and  agon.y 
of  these  times  is  not  death-pangs  but  birth-pangs, 
a  new  and  better  order  is  at  hand.  Our  expectation 
is  from  God,  not  an  expectation  which  passively  and 
wickeuiy  dreams  and  waits,  but  an  expectation 
which  toils  with  God  and  achieves. 

There  are  also  distinctively  personal  aspects  of 
expectation.  Every  life  has  its  special  problems. 
The  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness,  and  its  own 
joy.  No  one  is  without  desires,  burdens,  tempta- 
tions, hopes.  With  what  spirit  are  we  meeting 
the  challenge  of  life?  To  be  discouraged  is  to  be 
already  beaten.  We  are  to  be  of  good  cheer,  Christ 
has  overcome,  and  we  may  share  his  victory.  Even 
death  itself  sets  no  limit  to  our  expectation.  We 
feel  in  ourselves  the  future  life.    It  has  already 

begun  and  it  can  never  die. 

R.  M.  V. 


|;t' 

4 


XXIII 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  AND  THE 
PREACHER 


THE  centennial  of  the  birth  of  a  great  man 
affords  a  good  occasion  to  review  his  contri- 
bution to  the  world.  Lowell  has  been  a  great 
fo  ce  in  my  life,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  commend  him 
tc  young  ministers,  and  in  so  doing  to  pay  back,  in 
a  sense,  the  debt  I  owe  him.  We  have  no  time  to 
appraise  him  as  reformer  and  professor;  as  editor 
and  literary  critic;  as  an  ambassador  to  England 
\v^ho  accomplished  permanent  good  by  interpreting 
each  country  to  the  other;  or  even  as  a  poet,  per  se. 
You  and  I  will  essay  the  easier  task  of  considering 
him  as  prophet,  the  friend  to  whose  words  we  turn 
for  light  and  strength. 

Lowell  inspires  us,  for  one  thing,  to  a  love  of 
truth,  to  a  devotion  to  it  at  all  costs,  and  to  a  belief 
in  its  ultimate  triumph.  Sub  Pondere  Crescit  is  the 
title  of  an  early  sonnet,  in  which  he  writes  that 
"  The  hope  of  Truth  grov/s  stronger,  day  by  day," 
and  the  more  surely  the  more  it  is  hampered. 
Elsewhere,  he  says, 

93 


I! 


14:  . 


i 


I  i 


94    James  Rusaell  Lowell  and  the  Preaoher 

Truth  only  needs  to  be  for  once  spoke  out, 

And  there's  such  music  in  her,  such  strange  rhythm. 

As  makes  men's  memories  her  joyous  slaves. 

And  we  are  always  made  to  feel  that 

To  side  with  Truth  is  noble  when  we  share  her  wretched 
crust, 
Ere  her  cause  bring  fame  and  profit,  and  'tis  prosperous  to 
be  just. 

Human  freedom  early  became  a  passion  with 
Lowell,  and  he  struck  heavy  blows  for  the  liberation 
of  the  black  man.    He  disdained  a  coward. 

They  are  slaves  who  fear  to  speak 
For  the  fallen  and  the  weak. 

The  wrongs  of  the  laborer  are  on  his  heart.  He 
sees  Christ  in  the  fallen,  the  friendless,  and  the  out- 
cast. That  is  the  point  of  his  most  widely  popular 
poem,  "  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal,"  and  the  same 
truth  is  driven  home  in  "A  Parable,"  in  which 
Christ  is  represented  as  taking  a  low-browed, 
stunted  artisan  and  a  frail  girl,  setting  them  in  the 
midst  of  his  well-dressed  worshipers,  and  saying, 
These  are  "  the  images  ye  have  made  of  me."  In 
"  Beaver  Brook,"  he  looks  forward  to  a  time  when 
the  manual  workers  of  the  world  will  have  leisure 
for  the  higher  life.    Their 

Overplus  of  might, 


Shall  leap  to  music  and  to  li^t. 


F 


James  Russell  Lowell  and  the  Preacher     95 

In  that  new  childhood  of  the  Earth 

Life  of  itself  shall  dance  and  play, 
Fresh  blood  in  Time's  shrunk  veins  make  mirth. 

And  labor  meet  delight  half-way. 

His  Americanism  is  of  the  most  stalwart  and 
idealistic  type.  He  believed  in  the  principles  and 
mission  of  his  native  land  with  a  lover's  fidelity  and 
passion. 

Our  country  hath  a  gospel  of  her  own 
To  preach  and  practise  before  all  the  world,— 

The  freedom  and  divinity  of  man, 
The  glorious  claims  of  human  brotherhood. 

Internationalism  was  to  him  a  fulfilment  of  this 
mission  of  America  to  the  world. 

That  love  for  one,  from  which  there  doth  not  spring 
Wide  love  for  all,  is  but  a  worthless  thing. 

War  must  be  superseded  and  Thor's  worship  ended. 

A  new  law  came  when  Christ  came,  and  not  blameless,  as 
before, 

Can  we,  paying  bin'  our  lip-tithes,  give  our  lives  and  faiths 
to  Thor. 

"  Where  is  the  true  man's  fatherland?  "  he  asks  in 
another  place.  Is  it  where  truth  is,  where  law  is 
secure  and  freedom  and  justice  prevail  ?  That  were 
too  snug  and  smug.  "  Where  liberty  is  not,  there  is 
my  country,"  Thomas  Paine  had  said;  and  Lowell 
endorsed  the  sentiment : 


DO     James  Russell  Lowell  and  the  Preacher 


1" 


Where'er  a  human  heart  doth  wear 
Joy's  myrtle-wreath  or  sorrow's  gyves, 
Where'er  a  human  spirit  strives 

After  a  life  more  true  and  fair, 

Where'er  a  single  slave  doth  pine, 
Where'er  one  man  may  help  another, — 
Thank  God  for  such  a  birthright,  brother, — 

That  spot  of  earth  is  thine  and  mine! 

There  can  be  little  doubt  where  our  poet  would  take 
his  stand  in  the  new  crisis  that  confronts  Western 
civilization  today. 

Like  all  the  prophet-poets  of  our  English  speech, 
Lowell  meditated  deeply  on  the  great  probh.as  of 
life,  on  God,  duty,  and  immortality.  Life's  bases 
rest  "beyond  the  probe  of  chemic  test."  God 
makes  his  dwelling  in  men's  hearts  and  declares  his 
will  today  as  on  Sinai.  "  God  is  not  dumb  that  he 
should  speak  no  more."  He  is  to  be  seen  in  the  or- 
derly processes  of  nature,  in  the  gi-eat  currents  of 
history,  and  in  the  love  of  justice.  "  The  universe 
is  fire-proof,  and  it's  safe  to  strike  a  match." 
Though  God  seems  careless,  yet  crucified  truth  is 
stronger  than  enthroned  wrong,  and  behind  the 
shadow  he  stands,  "  keeping  watch  above  his  own." 
Because  of  God's  nature,  life  will  survive  death,  and 
the  servant  of  God  will  find  new  opportunities  "  for 
love  and  pity  and  helpful  deeds  "  beyond  the  grave. 
Recall  that  fine  apostrophe  of  Lowell  to  Chan- 
ning: 


James  Russell  Lowell  and  the  Preacher     97 

Thou  art  not  idle:  in  thy  higher  sphere 
Thy  spirit  bends  itself  to  loving  tasks, 

And  strength  to  perfect  what  it  dreamed  of  here 
Is  all  the  crown  and  glory  that  it  asks. 

Doubtless  he  would  say  that  of  all  the  true-hearted. 
From  these  samples  of  Lowell's  prophetic  utter- 
ances let  us  learn  the  greatness  of  his  message  for 
us.  He  is  always  wholesome,  always  inspiring.  To 
the  preacher,  he  is  immensely  stimulating  and  sug- 
gestive. Single  phrases  drop  like  barbed  seeds  into 
the  mind,  there  to  germinate  in  due  time  and  blossom 
into  sermons.  Make  his  collected  poems  your  vade 
mecum.  Hi<3  comradeship  will  ennoble  you  and  en- 
rich your  ministiy. 

W.  B. 


ii  'I 


^     -=: 


XXIV 


HOW  MEN  SEE  GOD 


r 


DID  you  ever  have  the  experience  of  watching 
an  audience  when  you  could  neither  see  nor 
hear  the  speaker  who  was  addressing  them? 
From  the  effects  upon  the  faces  and  the  attitudes  of 
the  people  you  knew  what  kind  of  speaker  was  on 
the  platform.  Perhaps  you  even  conjectured  what 
he  was  saying.  Some  of  the  greatest  forces  of  the 
world  never  are  actually  seen  by  us,  but  from  their 
effects  we  gain  very  accurate  knowledge  of  them. 
The  subtle  Greeks  make  use  of  this  idea  that  the 
great  emotions  cannot  be  directly  described,  but 
can  be  in  part  appreciated  through  the  effects  which 
they  are  seen  to  produce.  The  spectator  of  the 
Greek  drama  does  not  see  the  murder  or  deed  of 
violence.  The  horror-stricken  messenger  brings  the 
tidings  upon  the  stage.  His  manner  and  that  of  the 
chorus  reveal  what  has  occurred  more  effectively 
than  the  corpse-strewn  stage  in  Hamlet. 

Vocal  artists  catch  the  lesson  today.  The  skilled 
speaker  or  singer  never  tries  to  imitate  the  divine 
voice.  To  impersonate  Deity  is  to  make  oneself 
98 


-I 


How  Men  See  Ood 


99 


ridiculous.  The  artist  puts  into  his  tone  the  rever- 
ence which  the  voice  of  God  would  produce  in  his 
soul.  The  listeners  do  not  hear  the  voice  of  God, 
but  they  feel  its  effect,  and  their  souls  are  hushed  in 
sympathetic  awe. 

The  Scripture  writers  understand  this  principle 
of  suggesting  what  is  unseen.  Turn  to  the  sixth 
chapter  of  Isaiah.  The  prophet  attempts  no  de- 
scription of  the  Lord  "  high  and  lifted  up."  He  tells 
what  happens  to  the  dazzling  seraphs  in  the  light 
of  the  majestic  presence.  They  who  would  blind 
mortal  eyes  by  their  own  brilliance  hold  their  wings 
as  shields  from  the  blazing  brightness,  and  even  be- 
fore we  hear  tht^'r  words  we  are  ready  to  join  their 
cry  of  "  Holy, .      %  holy." 

Ezekiel,  who  30  loved  minute  detail,  •  -f^r  at- 
tempts to  describe  God.  He  expends  his  u.  n 
depicting  the  setting  for  one  who  cannot  be  ae- 
scribed.  Ezekiel's  living  creatures  gather  into 
themselves  all  those  ideas  of  divinity  ssmibolized  by 
the  Babylonian  sculptures  with  which  the  prophet 
was  surrounded.  The  power  of  the  ox,  the  speed  of 
the  eagle,  the  majesty  of  the  lion,  the  intelligence  of 
the  man,  all  elicited  the  worship  of  the  Babylonians. 
Ezekiel  blends  them  all  into  one,  and  puts  these  com- 
posites as  attendants  upon  the  throne  of  his  God. 
Read  his  first  chapter  and  the  tenth,  and  see  how 
explicit  is  his  portrayal  of  the  living  creatures,  the 


100 


How  Men  Soe  Ood 


wheels  and  the  eyes.  But  now,  as  we  look  higher, 
the  prophet  no  longer  dares  describe  what  he  sees. 
His  language  gains  a  mysterious  hold  upon  us  by 
its  very  vagueness.  The  picture  depends  on  com- 
parisons and  resemblances.  Above  the  creatures  is 
the  likeness  of  a  firmament.  This  is  like  the  terri- 
ble crystal.  Above  this  likeness  is  the  likeness  of  a 
throne,  and  on  the  likeness  of  a  throne  glows  a  form 
which  seems  to  resemble  the  appearance  of  a  man. 
Creatures  and  wheels  may  be  described  with  photo- 
graphic accuracy,  but  not  the  Person  on  the  throne. 
We  realize  his  greatness  in  proportion  as  we  feel 
how  he  transcends  the  prophet's  language.  Oni. 
by  the  suggestion  of  similes  can  we  conceive  him. 

Again,  we  turn  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  chapters  of 
Revelation,  with  their  reminiscences  of  Isaiah  and 
Ezekiel.  Here  too  there  is  One  sitting  on  a  throne. 
For  splendor  he  is  compared  to  precious  stones 
throwing  beauteous  light,  but  our  great  impression 
of  him  comes  from  the  effect  he  has  upon  those 
about  him.  The  four  living  beings,  typical  of 
creation's  highest  powers,  cannot  cease  from  adora- 
tion. The  gold-crowned  elders  leap  from  their 
thrones  to  throw  their  crowns  at  his  feet,  and  to 
acknowledge  that  glory,  honor,  and  power  belong 
to  him.  Our  eyes  may  not  see  that  face,  but  our 
souls  feel  its  power  reflected  from  those  bowed 
before  it. 


How  Men  See  Ood 


101 


These  three  illustrations  from  Bible  writers  fai* 
apart  in  time  and  place  bear  witness  to  the  potency 
of  suggestion  even  beyond  actual  sight. 

But  we  are  concerned  this  morning  with  no  mere 
literary  criticism.  Practically,  the  deepest  truths 
about  God  are  conveyed  not  by  words,  however  skil- 
fully used,  but  by  the  emotions  transmitted  through 
other  personalities.  Are  we  like  t\e  elders  sug- 
gesting him  who  has  mastered  our  lives? 

It  is  said  that  the  dying  Baron  Bunsen  looked  up 
at  his  wife  bending  over  him  and  murmured,  "  In 
thy  face  I  have  seen  the  Eternal."  What  shall  ra- 
diate from  our  faces  to  those  who  company  with  us 

through  the  years?  „,  ..  _ 

W.  N.  D. 


.^S^SSu^^^i^ 


XXV 


DRAMATIC  OR  ARTISTIC  EXEGESIS 


Luke  15  :  1,  2,  11-32 

TO  most  minds  exegesis  is  synonymous  with 
scientific  exposition.     Will  not  the  phrase, 
dramatic  or  poetic  exegesis,  cause  a  smile? 
Look,  however,  at  this  pa  able.    How  one-sided 
are  our  views  of  it.    We  miscall  it  "  The  Parable  of 
the  Prodigal  Son."    There  is  not  one  prodigal,  but 
two;  and  there  is  no  hint  that  the  second  repented. 
The  first  went  into  a  "  far  country  " ;  the  second  was 
"  m  the  field."    The  first  sinned  by  exuberance;  the 
second  by  repression.    The  sinner  by  repression  so 
crushes  the  elements  of  his  being  that  repentance  is 
rare.     The  parable  was  certainly  spoken  in  con- 
demnation of  the  elder  brother.    He  stood  for  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  who  were  sneering  at  the 
publicans  and  sinners,  while  the  younger  brother 
represented  the  poor  unfortunates  who  were  draw- 
ing near  to  listen  to  the  Master. 

Observe  the  definite  characterization  of  the  two 
boys.  Is  there  anything  more  dramatic  in  litera- 
ture? Some  men  talk  about  the  younger  brother  in 
102 


fM-.-;l^fi*j2S^^ 


Dramatic  or  Artistic  Exegesis 


103 


i 


a  way  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of  his  character, 
saying  that  when  he  got  to  the  end  of  his  rope  he 
thought  he  would  "  go  back  to  the  old  man,"  that  he 
returned  for  purely  selfish  reasons.  He  came  back, 
according  to  the  record,  to  take  the  lowest  place, 
even  to  become  "  a  hired  servant,"  the  poorest  kind 
of  servant,  and  confessed  his  sin.  Shall  we  over- 
look this?  Can  we  be  so  lacking  in  dramatic  imagi- 
nation as  to  fail  to  see  that  to  return,  and  acknowl- 
edge his  sin,  and  face  that  elder  brother  was  the 
hardest  of  all  tasks? 

Observe  the  elder  brother.  As  he  comes  toward 
the  house  he  hears  music  and  dancing,  and  he  calls 
a  servant  to  know  "  what  is  up."  Was  the  servant 
joyous,  or  did  he  sjmipathize  with  the  elder  brother? 
Did  he  tell  him,  "  The  scapegrace  has  come  back  **? 
No.  He  said,  "  Thy  brother  has  come."  Scientific 
exegesis  may  hardly  touch  this,  but  the  whole  spirit 
of  the  parable,  true  dramatic  instinct  gives  us  the 
true  knowledge  of  the  servant's  character.  The 
servant  must  be  joyous  because  the  spirit  of  the 
parable  is  to  isolate,  to  emphasize  the  character  of 
the  elder  brother. 

The  father  acts  the  same  toward  both  boys.  One 
he  met  afar  off,  the  other  he  went  out  and  entreated. 
Here  is  the  same  loving  father  in  each  case.  To  the 
elder  brother  he  used  a  tender  Greek  word  "  son," 
"my  boy."     Note  the  anger  of  the  elder  brother. 


104 


Dramatic  or  Artistic  Exegesis 


He  speaks  of  his  friends,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  he  had 
any. 

The  contrasts  are  as  fine  as  the  composition  of  a 
Chinese  screen.  Notice  the  "  begans  ":  "  Began  to 
be  in  want,"  "  began  to  be  merry."  Observe  "  This 
thy  son,"  as  if  the  elder  brother  sneeringly  insinu- 
ated that  he  was  a  "  chip  off  the  old  block."  Could 
anything  be  more  insulting?  Note  the  father's  ten- 
der but  serious  contrast,  "  This  iiiy  brother," 

There  are  not  only  dramatic  flements,  dramatic 
contrasts  between  the  two  boys,  out  there  is  here  a 
deeper,  greater  contrast.  The  father  is  not  repre- 
sented as  a  mere  dramatic  character  but  is  in  spirit 
epic.  He  stands  for  the  heavenly  Father.  He 
stands  above  both  boys  with  the  infinite  love,  sub- 
lime tenderness,  and  dignity  of  God. 

Then  notice  the  pathetic  close  of  the  parable.  Not 
a  word  as  to  the  repentance  of  the  elder  brother. 
Not  a  word  of  his  answer.  The  sublime  close  is  a 
pause  on  the  part  of  the  Master,  and  we  can  imagine 
the  look  he  gave,  full  of  tenderness,  with  regret  at 
the  party  of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  with  their 
hoisted  noses  and  sneering  faces. 

What  a  picture!  How  it  lives  in  our  hearts  as  a 
warning  not  only  of  the  sin  of  the  younger  brother, 
of  active  rebellion  and  yielding  to  our  lower  natures,' 
but  of  the  danger  of  repressing  the  feelings  of  love 
for  our  unfortunate  fellow  beings. 


Dramatic  or  Artistic  Exegesis 


105 


To  understand  this  greatest  of  all  works  of  art 
demands  artistic  insight,  demands  dramatic  in- 
stinct, demands  that  same  spirit  that  looks  at 
a  picture  and  holds  it  in  contemplation  until  the 
whole  composition  has  so  intensified  our  gaze  as  to 
give  us  a  sublime  impression. 

A  work  of  art  must  have  unity  or  it  is  not  art.  It 
must  not  be  judged  by  one  little  comer.  There  is 
danger  of  taking  a  text  from  one  short  clause.  I 
heard  a  most  eminent  preacher  speak  upon  this 
parable  once,  and  he  said  that  the  elder  brother 
did  not  apply  to  us.  It  does  apply  to  us.  It  applies 
to  every  one  of  us.  In  each  of  our  hearts  are  the 
two  tendencies,  the  younorer  and  the  elder  brother 
are  both  present  there. 

To  appreciate  it,  therefore,  we  must  feel  it  as  a 
whole,  apply  it  as  a  whole.  In  fact  to  understand  all 
Scripture  we  need  a  synthetic,  artistic,  contempla- 
tive attitude  of  mind,  an  attitude  which  is  not 
merely  scientiiic  but  poetic  and  artistic. 

Ought  we  not  to  remember  that  our  education  has 
been  militarized,  Germanized?  Our  biblical  criti- 
cism is  one-sid.d,  analytic.  It  is  often  rejected  by 
the  ordinary  Christian  not  because  it  is  high,  but 
because  it  is  low,  because  it  lacks  the  spirit  of  rever- 
ence. In  fact,  we  have  no  higher  criticism  yet. 
When  we  do  have  it,  it  will  not  be  merely  scientific 
or  analytic;  it  will  be  artistic  and  synthetic. 


106  Ihramatio  or  Artistio  Exegesis 

In  the  devout  Christian  there  is  a  teachable  spirit. 
Give  us,  it  says,  information.    "  The  highest  criti- 
cism," says  Professor  Dowden,  "  is  appreciation." 
This,  in  fact,  is  its  very  aim.    In  all  our  education, 
our  education  as  ministers,  is  not  the  great  need  to- 
day the  artistic  spirit?    Have  we  not  gone  to  seed 
about  science?    Everything  must  be  scientific,  a 
cold,  hard,  analytic  array  of  facts.    While  we  all 
need  to  know  these  facts,  still  we  must  necessarily 
clothe  them  in  the  spirit  of  feeling  and  sympathy. 
When  science  discards  all  other  points  of  view  as 
not  worth  while,  -^en  it  forgets  that  art,  science, 
and  religion  are  sisters,  it  makes  a  fundamental 
mistake.    If  we  take  art  from  science  we  have  only 
utilitarianism ;  if  we  take  science  from  art,  we  have 
only  sentimentality;  religion  taken  from  science 
leaves    skepticism,    science   taken    from    religion 
leaves  superstition,  art  taken  from  religion  leaves 
the  worship  of  the  ugly.    Are  not  the  three  insepa- 
rable in  the  realization  of  truths  ?   Truth  is  not  fully 
told  till  all  of  the  three  have  fully  spoken. 

In  the  education  of  today  is  there  not  a  great  need 
of  the  artistic  point  of  view?  Do  we  not  need  this, 
not  only  in  the  study  of  literature  and  poetry,  but  in 
the  study  of  the  Bible?  We  have  this  treasure  in 
earthen  vessels,  but  it  is  a  t-^asure.  The  vessel  is 
earthen,  imperfections  are  foimd  in  it,  flaws  are 
there,  but  they  are  of  the  vessel  only. 


Dramatio  or  Artiatio  Exc^c^it 


107 


Inspiration  demands  inspiration  to  appreciate  it. 
Poetry  and  art  appeal  to  the  creative  instincts  of 
man.  They  are  phases  of  inspiration.  To  appre- 
ciate art  we  must  become  artists  for  the  moment. 
We  must  rise  to  the  plane  of  the  artist  to  appreciate 
inspiration  of  any  kind.  We  ourselves  must  be 
humble,  willing  to  be  inspired. 

Is  not  the  artistic  point  of  view,  the  contemplative 
attitude  of  mind,  necessary  for  a  true  understand- 
ing of  the  Bible?  It  is  so  easy  to  look  at  only  one 
little  comer  of  any  work  of  art,  so  easy  to  talk 
about  the  elder  brother  as  if  the  father  had  given 
everything  he  had  to  him.  Even  if  he  had,  it  was  a 
giving  like  the  light  of  the  sun,  like  the  air.  It  is 
so  easy  to  criticize  this  parable  from  cold  economics. 
A  great  art  critic  once  said,  "  The  longer  I  live,  the 
more  I  find  that  those  things  which  I  once  thought 
were  faults  are  qualities."  Let  us  look  at  the  para- 
ble as  a  whole,  look  at  its  mai-velous  unity,  and  we 
shall  realize  why  it  has  taken  snch  a  hold  upon  the 
hearts  of  men  in  all  ages. 

To  appreciate  this  parable,  then,  we  find  the  ar- 
tistic point  of  view  absolutely  necessary.  Here  we 
meet  the  art  of  the  Master  and  find  why  it  was 
necessary  for  him  to  use  art  on  account  of  the  hard- 
ness of  the  human  heart ;  and  here  we  find  the  most 
dramatic,  the  most  epic  of  all  poems,  the  sublimest 
of  all  artistic  compositions.    If  we  will  contemplate 


ill 


H 


108 


Dramatic  or  Artistic  Exegesis 


with  our  imaginations,  our  sympathies,  our  in- 
tuitions awake,  it  will  create  in  us,  as  it  has  in 
millions  of  discouraged  souls,  the  conception  of 
God's  relation  to  his  erring  children. 

s.  s.  c. 


I'  i 


XXVI 


USING  OUR  WEALTH 


WHENEVER  a  piece  of  careful  scientific 
work  puts  at  humanity's  service  a  new- 
agency,  the  question  immediately  rises, 
"  Is  this  to  be  used  for  good  or  ill  ?  "  *'  Shall  the  new 
steel  process  build  higher  buildings  and  greater  ships 
of  commerce,  or  Krupp  engines  of  destruction?" 
Similar  questions  are  brought  forward  by  terri- 
torial discoveries.  A  new  country  is  opened ;  a  new 
river  is  put  on  the  map.  Shall  the  Christian 
preacher  or  the  liquor  seller  be  first  in  the  new  area? 
Apply  this  thought  in  another  realm.  In  the  last 
generation  an  enormous  amount  of  careful  scientific 
work  was  done  in  the  study  of  the  Bible.  Shall  de- 
vout men  or  skeptical  critics  be  the  ones  to  uso  what 
has  been  learned? 

Take  the  much-discussed  first  two  chapters  of 
Genesis.  What  a  vast  amount  of  study  has  gone  to 
pointing  out  differences  between  them.  I  am  going 
to  ask  you  this  morning  to  give  thanks  with  me  for 
all  the  honest  work  that  has  gone  to  this  task. 
How  much  richer  is  our  thought  of  God  for  the  dif- 
ferences of  view-point  ? 

109 


*( 


110 


Uiing  Our  Wealth 


w 


First,  there  is  an  awe-inspiring  picture  of  de- 
velopment  and  differentiation  into  a  highly  or- 
ganized universe.    Our  minds  are  directed  to  stages 
in  the  process,  but  constantly  we  are  reminded  that 
back  of  every  process  and  every  step  of  progress 
was  God.    Now  comes  another  picture.    Forces  and 
laws  recede  from  view.    Everything  about  us  sings 
of  life,  life  upspringing  in  response  to  the  fostering 
mist,  life  coursing  in  the  veins  of  man.    A  moment 
ago  man  was  the  climax  of  creative  processes.    Now 
we  look  at  him  not  as  detached  and  on  a  pedestal; 
but  we  see  his  truest  glory  when  he  finds  a  helper 
mated  to  him,  when  the  love  bond  starts  the  hu- 
man family  and  lays  the  foundation  of  all  social 
progress.    And  greater  than  human  love  shines  the 
divine  love.    God  is  the  great  social  attraction  of 
the  universe. 

I  would  not  miss  that  first  chapter,  which  calls 
my  soul  to  enter  into  the  temple  and  sit  hushed  and 
awed  before  the  mighty  Creator.  Nor  would  I  miss 
that  second  chapter,  which  tells  me  that  it  is  God 
who  bids  me  cherish  my  kindred  and  find  in  contact 
with  my  fellow  beings  my  soul's  truest  glory. 

Contradictory  accounts?  By  no  means.  They 
both  impress  God  on  my  thought,  the  Lord  of  the 
earth,  the  Lord  of  my  life.  Discrepant  in  details? 
Certainly.  No  ti  jly  great  picture  is  ever  a  copy  of 
another.    Any  lawyer  will  tell  you  that  when  two 


Uling  Our  Wealth 


HI 


witnesses  testify  as  to  the  same  fact,  their  evidence 
has  more  value  if  they  do  not  agree  too  closely  re- 
garding details.  Two  great  testimonies  to  God  gain 
rather  than  lose  if  their  varied  view-points  furnish 
different  angles  of  vision  by  which  the  gaze  may  be 
directed  to  the  one  great  truth. 

Should  we  be  afraid  to  see  differences?  Should  I 
ask  that  you  curtain  all  these  chapel  windows  but 
one?  Rather  let  me  have  the  blending  of  all  their 
rich  tones,  and  still,  like  Goethe,  let  me  struggle  to 
lift  my  h?ad  for  "  mehr  Licht,  mehr  Licht,"  "  more 
light,  more  light."  ^^^^^_ 


XXVII 


THE  ALLEGORIC  SPIRIT  OF  THE  BIBLE 


Ecdesiastes  12  :  1-7 

WHAT  are  "the  keepers  of  the  house" 
that  "tremble"?  The  human  hands. 
What  "  the  strong  men  "  that  '*  bow  them- 
selves"? They  are  the  knees  or  the  lower  limbs. 
What  are  the  "grinders  that  cease"?  The  teeth. 
"  Those  that  look  out  of  the  windows  "  that  "  shall 
be  darkened  "  are  the  eyes.  "  The  doors  "  "  shut  in 
the  street "  are  the  ears.  "  The  almond  tree,"  the 
white  hair;  "  the  pitcher  at  the  fountain  "  and  "  the 
wheel  broken  at  the  cip+^^m,"  the  human  blood. 
Some  think  Solomon  knew  of  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  but  this  does  not  necessarily  follow  from  the 
passage,  it  is  only  a  figurative  suggestion  of  the 
fluids  of  the  body. 

Here  is  an  allegoric  description  of  old  age.  The 
allegoric  spirit  is  one  of  the  necessary  poetic  in- 
stincts of  the  human  heart  in  all  literature,  but  es- 
pecially in  Oriental  literature  or  in  that  of  the  early 
ages. 

A  Japano?c  hohku  is  a  purely  allegoric  poem,  very 
112 


The  Allegoric  Spirit  of  the  Bible        1 13 


technical  and  formal.  It  consists  of  seventeen  sylla- 
bles in  three  liaes.  Two  lines  are  suppressed  and 
must  be  understood.  If  these  are  expressed,  giving 
a  more  definite  explanation  of  the  meaning,  it  is 
called  a  tanka.  Here  is  a  hokku  by  Basho,  the  great 
Japanese  poet : 

An  old  pond, 

And  the  sound  of  a  frog  leaping 

Into  the  water. 

Three  different  impressions  of  this  are  possible. 
First,  the  literal  fact  which  might  happen  to  any 
one  passing  by  some  lonely  pond  in  the  woods. 
Secondly,  the  impression  this  fact  causes  of  solitude 
and  loneliness.  The  silence  seems  more  silent  after 
the  sudden  "  kerchug  "  of  the  frog. 

Thirdly,  to  Basho,  to  the  Japanese,  it  is  an  alle- 
gory of  the  transitory  character  of  human  ambi- 
tions, the  passing  away  of  human  schemes  into  the 
eternal  silence. 

Mr.  Fletcher  says  that  this  hokku  means  nothing 
to  the  Occidental  mind.  Is  this  true?  Forty  years 
ago  a  Japanese  fellow  student,  now  prominent  in 
the  life  of  his  nation,  one  who  has  been  head  of 
several  Japanese  commissions,  wrote  in  my  note- 
book : 

Four  seas,  all  brothers, 

without  any  explanation.    It  needed  none  even  to 
my  youthful  ignorance.    Around  Japan  it  is  a  fact 
11 


m 


114        The  AUegorio  Spirit  of  the  Bible 

there  are  four  seas.  This  fact  may  make  us  feel 
the  all-prevading,  wide-extending  ocean  around  the 
world.  But  it  also  meant,  that  he,  an  Oriental,  and 
I,  an  Occidental,  were  brothers. 

Modem  higher  critics  and  possibly  the  church  for 
fifteen  hundred  years  have  disparaged  the  allegoric 
inter  station  of  the  Bible.  But  can  we  realize  and 
understand  certain  parts  of  the  Scriptures  without 
recognizing  this  allegoric  spirit?  It  may  be  abused 
or  carried  too  far;  but  as  says  Carlyle,  "  Everything 
has  an  index  finger  that  points  to  something  beyond 
itself."  When  we  realize  a  great  truth,  a  truth  too 
profound  to  be  expressed  in  words,  we  adopt  a 
symbol  which  was  defined  by  a  great  scholar  as 
"  the  Infinite  in  the  finite." 

Recently  a  book  has  been  published  by  a  dis- 
tinguished scholar,  professing  to  give  to  ordinary 
stud.,!  5?  a  belter  understanding  of  the  Bible. 
Highly  as  I  honor  the  author,  the  book  has  given  me 
great  pain.  For  example,  he  speaks  of  the  book  of 
Jonah  and  the  whale,  the  sea-monster,  as  a  gro- 
tesque piece  of  humor.  Here  is  a  lack  of  poetic  in- 
sight, too  common  among  critics,  a  failure  to  grasp 
the  significance  of  one  of  the  greatest  allegories  of 
the  world.  The  whale  was  a  symbol  of  the  heathen 
world ;  Jonah,  of  the  chosen  people  who  were  throwni 
into  exile  for  failure  to  preach  to  the  whole  world 
that  God  is  one,  to  carry  to  the  wor'd  a  message 


The  Allegoric  Spirit  of  the  Bible         1 15 

they  received  not  for  themselves  alone  but  for  ali 
mankind.  Notice  the  fine  poem  (exilic  poetry), 
which  Jonah  spoke  in  the  whale's  belly.  Is  this  the 
poetry  of  the  exile?  But  the  Jews,  worn  after  the 
return  from  the  exile,  sat  down  under  their  gourd 
and  waited,  expecting  the  rest  of  the  «vorld  to  be 
destroyed. 

Notico  at  the  close  of  the  book  the  highest  con- 
ception of  Deity  found  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Where  else  do  we  find  that  Jehovah  spared  a  city  on 
account  of  little  children  and  "  much  cattle  "? 

Surely  we  feel  like  crying  out  with  George  Adam 
Smith,  "0  Lord,  how  long  will  thy  church  insist 
ontakingthy  poetry  for  prose!  "  con 

O.  O.  \j' 


XXVIII 

THE  FIRST  DISCIPLES  AND  THE  RESURREC- 
TION 


IN  the  book  of  Acts  Luke  represents  the  early 
Christians  as  looking  at  the  resurrection  of 
Jesu?  from  a  point  of  view  very  different  from 
that  commonly  taken  at  the  present  time.  They  did 
not  ignore  the  deductions  to  be  dra\vn  from  it  as  to 
a  luture  life  and  as  to  our  Lord's  divinity,  but  quite 
a  different  conception  was  primary  in  their  thoughts 
of  the  resurrection. 

Peter  brought  out  the  ruling  idea  of  the  first  dis- 
ciples as  to  the  resurrection  in  his  explanation  to  the 
Sanhedrin  of  the  healing  of  the  lame  man  at  the 
Beautiful  Gate.  He  said,  "  Be  it  known  unto  you 
all,  and  to  all  the  people  of  Israel,  that  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  whom  ye  crucified, 
whom  God  raised  from  the  dead,  even  in  him  doth 
this  man  stand  here  before  you  whole."  In  other 
words,  through  the  resurrection  Jesus  Christ  con- 
tinued to  be  an  active  personality  in  human  con- 
cerns. The  risen  and  living  Jesus  restored  the  para- 
lytic. **  In  him  doth  this  man  stand  here  before  you 
116 


The  Disciples  and  the  Resurrection       117 


whole."  To  the  first  disciples  the  chief  value  of  the 
resurrection  did  not  corsist  in  the  evidences  that  it 
afforded  to  other  truths.  It  was  something  vastly 
more  vital  than  a  link  in  a  chain  of  logic.  What 
fastened  their  attention  was  the  fact  that  the  resur- 
rection meant  that  Jesus  was  still  alive.  The  resur- 
rection gave  them  not  so  much  an  argument  as  a 
fact— the  fact  of  the  living  Christ. 

And  this  natural,  unsophisticated  way  of  looking 
at  our  Lord's  resurrection  is  one  that  is  full  of  large 
suggestions  to  us  at  this  Eastertime.  The  essential 
nature  of  Christianity  itself  is  involved  in  it,  for 
Christ  is  not  expressed  in  a  series  of  propositions, 
no  matter  how  sublime  or  inspiring  they  may  be, 
nor  do  we  embrace  Christianity  by  assenting  to  these 
propositions.  The  religion  of  Christ  consists  pri- 
marily in  the  relation  of  a  human  soul  to  a  Person. 
When  Jesus  was  on  earth  he  said:  "Come  unto 
me  ";  "  Follow  me  ";  "  Abide  in  me."  Those  com- 
mandments were  not  simply  for  the  Hebrews  of 
Judea  and  Galilee  during  those  short  years  of  the 
first  half  of  the  first  century.  They  are  perpetual 
calls,  opening  perpetual  privileges,  because  he  who 
spoke  them  then  is  still  living  and  speaks  them  to 
us,  inviting  us  to  the  fellowship  that  he  offered  to 
the  first  disciples. 

When  Paul  said  that  if  Christ  was  not  raised 
from  the  dead,  "  your  faith  is  in  vain,  ye  are  yet  in 


I'fi 


m 


118      The  Disciples  and  the  Resurrection 


your  sins,"  a  profounder  thought  was  Li  his  mind 
than  that  a  denial  of  the  resurrection  would  invali- 
date an  evidence  to  faith.  What  he  meant  was  that 
if  Christ  is  not  alive  through  the  resurrection,  faith 
has  no  object ;  we  are  yet  in  our  sins  because  the  tie 
of  personal  fellowship  with  Christ  that  emancipates 
from  sin  has  no  real  existence ;  there  is  no  present, 
active,  living  Jesus  between  whom  and  ourselves 
there  exists  this  vital  fellowship.  If  Christ  is  not 
risen,  Paul  cannot  say,  "  There  is  now  no  condemna- 
tion to  them  that  are  in  Jesus";  he  cannot  say, 
"  Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory,"  for  there  is  no 
actually  living  Christ  with  whom  we  may  sustain 
this  relation,  or  who  may  sustain  this  relation 
to  us. 

You  get  another  aspect  of  this  truth  when  you 
reflect  that  it  is  just  this  truth  of  the  living  Christ 
that  separates  Christianity  from  every  other  re- 
ligious faith.  The  primary  distinction  of  Chris- 
tianity is  not  that  it  has  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
as  evidence  for  the  truth  of  its  doctrines,  valuable 
as  that  evidence  is.  The  primary  distinction  of 
Christianity  is  that  it  makes  so  much  of  a  relation- 
ship to  a  Person— so  much  that  if  he  is  dead,  the 
heart  and  vital  principle  of  the  religion  is  taken 
away.  Every  other  religious  faith  elaborates  its 
theories  of  human  life  and  God,  and  urges  man  to 
guide  his  life  by  these  theories    They  do  not  bring 


The  Disciples  and  the  Resurrection      11<J 

new  elements  into  the  problem.  That  is  exactly 
what  Christianity  does.  The  profound  difference 
between  it  and  every  other  faith  is  Christ,  and  not 
Christ  as  a  mere  teacher,  or  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin 
alone,  but  Christ  as  a  Person  with  whom  each  be- 
liever may  enter  into  such  intimate  fellowship  that 
he  shares  the  destiny  and  glory  of  Christ.  The 
first  disciples  had  this  fellowship  in  the  flesh  for  a 
few  mc'-.ths.  We  delight  to  trace  the  impress  of 
Christ  upon  them,  and  to  study  their  spiritual  re- 
actions under  his  influence.  The  resurrection 
of  the  Lord  makes  these  experiences  possible  for 
every  man. 

This  view  of  the  teaching  of  the  resurrection  will 
profoundly  influence  our  attitude  toward  the  New 
Testament.  The  Christ  of  history  gives  us  the  basis 
of  understanding  the  present  Christ  of  Christian 
experience.  When  a  friend  has  departed  to  a  dis- 
tant land,  we  know  what  manner  of  man  he  is  now 
because  we  know  what  he  was  a  week,,  or  a  month,  or 
a  year  ago.  We  know  how  Christ  thinks  and  feels 
now,  what  are  his  purposes,  standards,  and  ideals, 
because  of  what  he  said  and  did  upon  earth.  We 
know  him  as  we  know  an  absent  friend.  Our  past 
acquaintance  is  the  basis  of  our  present  knowledge. 
You  never  get  the  best  of  the  New  Testament,  you 
never  penetrate  into  its  heart,  until  its  pages  are 
flooded  with  the  Easter  light,  and  you  -ncditatc 


'4  1 


120       The  Disciples  and  the  Resurrection 


upon  it  ,ad  let  its  words  sink  into  your  heart  as 
revelations  oi"  the  mind  and  temper  of  the  soul's 
Lord  and  Lover. 

The  claim  is  often  made  that  the  resurrection  of 
Jesus  is  a  proof  all  men  are  immortal.  It  would  not 
be  altogether  easy  to  trace  the  logic  of  this  infer- 
ence. We  can  never  be  sure  that  we  shall  rise  from 
the  grave  because  Jesus  did,  for  we  cannot  be 
sure  that  it  was  not  the  divine  element  in  him 
that  effected  the  resurrection.  The  more  you  em- 
phasize the  deity  of  Jesus,  the  weaker  the  inference. 
Only  a  thoroughgoing  Unitarian  can  find  much  force 
in  the  argument  that  we  shall  rise  from  the  dead  be- 
cause Christ  rose.  We  need  to  shift  our  point  of 
view  a  little  and  to  introduce  another  factor  to  get 
the  force  of  the  resurrection  argument  for  immor- 
tality. Jesus  expressed  it  in  a  sentence  when  he 
j  said,  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  The  living 
i  Christ  is  a  pledge  of  our  life  because  we  share  his 
\destiny.  His  union  with  man  and  man's  union  with 
him  is  the  solid  ground  for  believing  in  the  im- 
mortal life. 

We  are  not  devoted  to  Christ  simply  as  a  beauti- 
ful memory.  We  sustain  the  most  intimate  relation 
to  a  living  Person.  He  is  now  thinking  of  us,  guid- 
ing us,  revealing  his  will  to  us,  and  giving  us  assur- 
ance of  his  love.  No  earthly  analogy  of  the  relation 
of  brothers,  or  of  a  parent  and  child,  or  of  husband 


The  Disciples  and  the  Resurrection       121 


and  wife,  portrays  the  vital  unity  between  the  Lord 
and  his  disciple.  The  disciple  is  a  living  branch  of 
the  living  vine.  And  the  resurrection  reveals  to  us 
his  eternal  life  in  which  we  shall  share.  "  Because  I 
live,  ye  shall  live  also."  r.  t^  tt 

(jr.  ill.  xl. 


XXIX 


THE  INEVITABLE  IMMORTALITV 


NO  nation  or  race  has  a  monopoly  of  the  belief 
in  an  immoi-tal  life.  Different  races  have 
different  paths  to  reach  their  beliefs,  and 
the  contents  of  the  beliefs  vary  not  a  little.  Reflec- 
tion upon  the  basis  for  the  Hebrew  and  Christian 
belief  should  furnish  a  stimulus  for  the  devotional 
life.  This  basis  may  be  a  surprise  to  some;  for 
much  that  is  preached  today  as  the  belief  in  im- 
mortality is  hardly  more  than  the  Greek  specula- 
tion as  to  the  persistence  of  personality.  The  es- 
sence of  this  thought  is  that  man  is  of  such  an  in- 
herent character  that  death  cannot  end  his  activi- 
ties. 

The  Hebrew,  however,  based  his  belief,  not  on  the 
nature  of  man,  but  on  the  nature  of  God.  He  did 
not  philosophize  as  to  man's  inevitable  immortality, 
but  he  did  affirm  that  the  man  beloved  of  God  could 
not  be  separated  even  by  death  from  the  God  v.'ho 
loved  him.  Amos  statos  some  of  the  foundations 
for  this  conviction.  He  declares  that  man  can  no- 
where find  a  place  of  escape  from  God.  It  matters 
J  22 


The  Inevitable  Immortality 


123 


not  whether  he  take  refuge  in  heaven,  in  the  great 
deep,  or  in  Sheol,  the  abode  of  the  dead.  These  are 
all  alike  accessible  to  God.  Amos  did  not  state  the 
inference  that  if  Sheol  has  no  shelter  for  a  fugi- 
tive, it  can  be  no  prison  for  a  saint.  Had  he  fol- 
lowed through  his  logic,  he  would  have  said,  "  God 
can  take  either  of  them,  even  from  Sheol." 

A  psalmist  felt  and  expressed  this  implication  of 
the  words  of  Amos.  Confident  of  God's  love,  he 
sang,  "  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  Sheol,  nor  let 
thy  beloved  see  corruption."  His  reliance  is  not  on 
human  nature,  but  on  the  dependable  love  of  the 
omnipotent  God. 

This  reliance  was  in  the  heart  of  the  strenuous 
poet  from  Tarsus  when  he  wrote,  "  I  am  convinced 
that  neither  death,  nor  life,  .  .  nor  anything  else 
that  is  created,  has  the  power  to  sunder  us  from  the 
love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 
It  is  the  Hebrew  Christian,  Paul,  who  utters  this 
creed  and  hope.  It  is  Paul  expounding  the  Hebrew 
and  Christian  faith  to  speculative  Greeks  who  pens 
the  fifteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians.  There 
he  adapts  his  thought  more  to  Greek  philosophy. 
That  is  the  reason  why  many  of  us  find  that  chapter 
so  cold  and  stately  in  the  funeral  service.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  all  pity  the  man  whose  pulses  beat 
no  faster  when  he  reads  the  last  verses  of  Romans 
eight. 


124 


The  Inevitable  Immortality 


Let  us,  then,  like  the  Hebrew,  base  our  hope  on 
the  solid  foundation  of  the  unchanging  love  of  the 
all-powerful  God  rathe  •  than  on  an  intellectual  con- 
clusion as  to  the  persistence  of  human  characteris- 
tics. Let  us  trust  our  hearts  more  than  our  heads. 
By  the  heart's  pathway  we  shall  enter  into  the  as- 
surances given  by  Jesus  our  Lord.  He  was  the  con- 
summate expression  of  the  divine  love.  He  said. 
"  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  Note  how  in 
the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John  this  promise  is  as- 
sociated with  words  as  to  the  love  of  the  Father. 
It  was  not  by  a  new  disclosure  of  the  possibilities 
of  humanity,  but  by  living  out  his  Father's  love  that 
Jesus  "  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light." 

W.  N.  D. 


H 


XXX 


THE  WORLD'S  TRIBUTE  TO  WORTH 


Mark  1  :  1-5;  2  Kings  5  :  8,9,15 

THERE  is  a  frequently  repeated  statement 
which  one  comes  across  in  his  reading  every 
now  and  then,  to  the  effect  that  the  superior 
person  cannot  be  hidden  for  long;  and  that  if  he  but 
make  a  better  mouse-trap  than  his  neighbors, 
though  he  live  in  the  wilderness,  the  world  will 
make  a  beaten  track  to  his  door.  The  statement  is 
generally  attributed  to  Emerson,  falsely,  I  think, 
for  diligent  search  has  failed  to  find  it  in  his  pages. 
Yet  the  truth  therein  expressed  needs  not  an  emi- 
nent name  as  sponsor.  It  can  stand  on  its  own 
merits.  It  is  an  expression  of  the  ready  tribute 
paid  by  mankind  to  worth. 

The  statement  finds  many  corroborations.  For 
instance,  there  lived  until  recently  in  a  little  New 
England  town  a  lawyer  of  such  wide  knowledge  of 
law  and  such  keen  mental  powers  that  he  was  con- 
sulted by  his  brethren  of  the  bar  far  and  wide.  It 
is  said  that  there  has  not  been  an  important  law 
case  in  forty  years  in  which  his  services,  on  one 

125 


''II 


'III 


L26 


The  World's  Tribute  to  Worth 


side  01-  the  other,  have  not  been  retained.  Neither 
the  capital  of  the  State  nor  its  largest  city  could  en- 
tice him  to  hang  out  his  shingle  there.  He  remained 
in  the  humble  village  of  his  birth,  and  "  the  world 
made  a  beaten  track  to  his  door." 

The  same  is  true  in  other  professions.  I  have  a 
friend  who  is  a  "consulting"  engineer.  He  does 
not  construct  buildings,  bridges,  viaducts,  and  dams ; 
he  does  not  even  draw  the  plans.  He  is  the  one 
whom  these  others  consult:  for  he  has  preeminent 
skill  in  envisaging  the  whole  problem.  In  like  man- 
ner there  are  consulting  physicians  to  whom  ordi- 
nary practitioners  go  for  light  on  their  cases  of  spe- 
cial perplexity  or  novelty. 

The  tribute  paid  by  the  public  to  favorite  authors 
is  hearty  and  handsome.  To  be  sure,  "  best  sellers  " 
do  not  always  become  classics.  The  taste  of  the  hour 
may  be  whimsical  and  erratic.  Yet  in  any  case  the 
tribute  is  sincere  while  it  lasts.  A  century  ago,  a 
new  novel  by  Scott  was  always  the  sensation  of  the 
literary  world.  We  can  sympathize  with  the  old 
Englishwoman  who  came  breathlessly  into  the  book- 
seller's shop,  exclaiming,  "  Give  me  '  Peveril  of  the 
Peak '  and  two  candles,  quick!  " 

How  is  it  in  the  gospel  ministry?  Is  merit  recog- 
nized? Does  the  world  make  "a  beaten  track"  to 
the  door  of  the  most  spiritual?  and  pay  its  quickest 
tribute  to  the  most  Christlike?    The  very  opposite 


The  World's  Tribute  to  Worth 


127 


sometimes  seems  the  case.  The  man  of  showy  gifts 
attracts  the  crowd,  and  the  self -advertiser  gets 
space  in  the  papers.  Yet  in  the  long  run,  merit 
wins.  John  the  Baptist  would  not  go  to  Jerusalem ; 
but  Jerusalem  and  all  Judea  made  a  "  beaten  track  " 
into  the  wilderness  to  see  and  hear  that  fiery  re- 
former. To  a  peasant's  house  was  the  haughty  Naa- 
man  with  his  princely  retinue  compelled  to  go,  for 
there  alone  could  he  find  a  cure.  How  satisfyingly 
rings  in  our  ears  that  word  which  Elisha  sent  to  the 
King  of  Israel,  "  Let  Naaman  come  now  to  me,  and 
he  shall  know  that  there  is  a  prophet  in  Israel ! " 
Good ! 

Recognition  of  superiority  need  not  be  imme- 
diate. The  truly  great  can  afford  to  wait.  The  ver- 
dict of  history  will  set  values  in  true  perspective. 
In  retrospect  we  can  see  men  like  George  Herbert, 
Charles  Kingsley,  and  John  Fawcett.  though  they 
spent  their  lives  in  tiny  parishes,  exert  an  ever- 
widening  influence  for  good.  Such  places  as  Bemer- 
ton  and  Eversley  become  shrines  for  religious  pil- 
grim?, and  the  church  universal  sings  "  Blest  be  the 
tie  that  binds  "  as  a  perpetual  though  often  uncon- 
scious tribute  to  the  faithful  pastor  whom  the  emolu- 
ments of  London  could  not  allure  from  his  devoted 
people. 

Brethren,  learn  to  be  patient.     Take  time  for 
growth  in  grace  and  in  knowledge.    Nurture  vour 


i 


128 


The  World's  Tribute  to  Worth 


prophetic  gift.  Dare  to  be  original.  Scorn  an  easy 
and  cheap  success.  Rejoice  "  in  work  done  squarely 
and  unwasted  days."  Along  such  lines  one  accom- 
plishes most  for  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  For 
it  is  eternally  true,  as  Lowell  says,  "  Still  at  the 
prophets'  feet  the  nations  sit " ;  and  Emerson  is 
right. 

One  accent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
A  heedless  world  hath  never  lost. 

W.B. 


i 


XXXI 

THE  PLACE  OF  JESUS  IN  MODERN  LIFE 

"  And  he  closed  the  book,  and  {/are  it  back  to  the 
attendant,  and  sat  doivn:  and  thi  eijes  of  all  in  the 
synayogue  were  fastened  on  him  "  (Lttke  4  ;  20), 

ON  "  him  "—it  is  upon  the  last  word  of  the 
sentence  that  we  place  the  emphasis  at  this 
time.  Josus  had  returned  to  Nazareth,  and 
on  the  Sabbath  he  spoke  in  the  synagogue.  His 
fellow  townsmen  were  there  to  hear  him.  They 
were  intensely  interested  in  one  of  their  own  num- 
ber who  had  become  a  prophet  and  had  attracted 
large  notice  elsewhere.  Jesus  was  the  center  of 
attention  as  they  waited  for  his  words.  All  eyes 
were  intently  fixed  upon  him. 

In  that  scene  we  have  suggested  the  true  relation 
of  Jesus  to  our  ecclesiastical  institutions.  The  eyes 
of  the  people  were  not  directed  primarily  toward  the 
synagogue,  or,  as  we  would  say,  to  the  church. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  importance  of  the 
church.  The  people  were  brought  face  to  face  with 
Jesus  in  a  building  erected  by  the  church  and  dedi- 
cated to  its  purposes.  We  have  little  sympathy  with 
^  129 


■'  1 

i 


130 


The  Place  of  Jesus  in  Modem  Life 


,1 1 


much  of  the  present  disparagement  of  the  church. 
Occasionally  we  hear  of  assemblages  who  hiss  the 
church  and  cheer  Jesus.  The  very  fact  that  they 
know  enough  about  Jesus  to  cheer  him,  they  owe 
to  the  church,  whatever  its  faults.  Great,  however, 
as  is  our  obligation  to  the  church,  our  eyes  are  not 
fixed  upon  it  but  upon  Jesus.  The  church  makes 
Jesus  known  to  us ;  it  is  instrumental,  he  is  final. 

Nor  were  the  eyes  of  the  people  focused  on  the 
book.  We  owe  much  to  the  Bible ;  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment as  Jesus'  Bible,  to  the  New  Testament  most 
of  all.  Jesus  found  his  text,  his  essential  message, 
in  the  words  of  the  prophet  concerning  the  Servant 
of  the  Lord  who  had  been  anointed  to  preach  good 
tidings,  to  proclaim  the  very  jubilee  of  the  new 
order  of  things.  Jesus  himself  had  nourished  his 
spirit  upon  the  writings  of  the  prophets.  But  when 
he  sat  down  and  gave  the  book  to  the  attendant,  the 
eyes  of  the  people  did  not  follow  the  book,  they  were 
fastened  on  Mm. 

Here  we  see  the  value  of  the  Scriptures  relative 
to  Jesus.  Once  he  said  that  the  Jews  searched  the 
Scriptures  because  they  thought  to  find  eternal  life 
in  them.  He  added,  "  they  testify  of  me."  Eternal 
life  can  be  kindled  only  by  a  divine  personality,  the 
book  at  most  is  a  path  by  which  we  come  to  such  a 
personality.  The  Bible  does  not  create  the  facts 
of  history  or  of  the  spiritual  order,  it  bears  witness 


:^.. 


I 


The  Place  of  Jesus  in  Modern  Life       131 


to  them.  Apart  from  it,  indeed,  our  knowledge  of 
the  historic  Jesus  would  be  dim.  It  must  ever  re- 
main the  unique  and  imperishable  book  because  it 
does  tell  us  about  Jesus.  But  our  eyes  are  not 
upon  the  book  which  the  attendant  carries  away, 
they  are  fastened  upon  him  with  whom  the  book 
acquaints  us. 

Shall  we  add  that  the  eyes  of  the  people  were  not 
directed  to  creedal  statements  about  Jesus?  The 
folks  at  Nazareth  in  a  crude  way  had  their  theories 
concerning  him.  They  recognized  the  words  of 
grace  which  fell  from  his  lips,  but  they  could  not  free 
themselves  from  what  seemed  to  be  involved  in  the 
fact  that  he  was  the  carpenter's  son.  Since  that  day 
how  vast  has  been  the  speculation  about  Jesus. 
Much  of  it  has  value,  he  is  a  blank  to  us  apart  from 
our  appreciations  of  his  spiritual  significance.  The 
first  disciples  used  their  great  religious  word  and 
said  that  he  was  the  "  Messiah."  The  Greeks,  on 
their  part,  applied  to  him  their  supreme  word,  the 
"  Logos.'*  We  have  the  same  Jesus,  and  he  means  to 
us  what  he  meant  to  believers  through  the  centu- 
ries. We  think  of  him  as  the  supreme  Personality. 
But  he  is  greater  than  all  our  theories;  we  look  be- 
yond them  to  Jesus  himself. 

The  certainties  of  faith  concerning  Jesus  must 
come  to  us  as  they  did  to  the  first  disciples,  by  first- 
hand acquaintance  with  the  real   historic  -:?sus. 


1 

ipl 

.1 

-•l 

f 

5  ; 

V 

1' 

1: 

132       The  Place  of  Jesus  in  Modem  Life 

Only  after  months  of  fellowship  with  himself  did 
Jesus  ask  the  disciples,  "  Who  say  ye  that  I  am?" 
Actual  acquaintance  came  first,  spiritual  valuation 
afterward.  We  fix  our  eyes  upon  Jesus,  not  upon 
what  men  have  said  about  him,  and  he  calls  forth 
our  faith  and  devotion. 

I  am  talking  in  this  way  about  Jesus  because  I 
believe  that  men  are  turning  to  him  today,  and  ought 
to  turn  to  him,  with  a  new  directness  of  attention. 
The  philosophy  which  ripened  into  the  bitter  fruit  of 
the  great  war  is  a  background  against  which  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  shines  with  a  new  luster.  Nie- 
tzsche's doctrine  of  pitiless  force  shows  us  the  one 
logical  alternative  to  Jesus'  gospel  of  love.  Prussian 
militarism  has  been  proved  an  unworkable  theory  of 
life.  Mutual  aid  and  not  ruthless  struggle  is  the 
secret  of  progress.  The  one  resplendent,  djoiamic, 
victorious  figure  who  has  come  out  of  the  war  is 
Jesus. 

As  an  expression  of  the  centrality  which  Jesus 
holds  in  current  thought  we  note  a  recent  editorial 
in  "  The  Nation  "  (December  21,  1918),  one  of  our 
foremost  critical  jounials,  not  especially  friendly  in 
past  years  to  traditional  Christianity :  "  Our  great 
adventure  of  the  past  years,  its  outcome,  cur  mo- 
tives and  methods  and  expectations,  must,  finally, 
beyond  even  the  *  verdict  of  history '  which  is  the 
last  hope  of  the  statesman-politician,  be  submitted 


^i!- 


The  Place  of  Jesus  in  Modem  Life       133 

to  the  verdict  of  Jesus  and  meet  the  measure  of  his 
gospel.  .  .  The  collective  experience  of  the  race  has 
shown  that  the  physical  order  of  the  universe  is  as 
Newton  said  it  was.  His  guidance  is  trustworthy. 
Those  who  accept  it  go  right,  and  those  who  refuse 
it  go  wrong,  and  sooner  or  later  come  to  grief.  Col- 
lective experience  has  shown,  too,  that  the  moral 
order  of  the  universe  is  as  Jesus  said,  and  that  the 
way  to  keep  safely  and  successfully  with  it  is  the 
way  he  indicated." 

The  hour  has  come  for  us  as  ministers  to  present 
Jesus  in  a  more  direct  way  to  the  world.  We  may 
well  put  aside  for  a  time,  perhaps  forever,  many  of 
our  exegetical  subtleties  and  philosophical  disquisi- 
tions; our  day  needs  in  a  supreme  way  the  spirit 
and  message  of  Jesus.  If  he  can  somehow  stand 
before  the  eyes  of  men,  not  our  theories  about  him 
but  he  himself,  we  may  hope  that  faith  and  love  and 
loyalty  will  spontaneously  rise  in  their  hearts. 

R.  M.  V. 


^T503ZM^T3rs>r"Mv 


XXXII 


i! 


RIGHTEOUS  INDIGNATION  AGAINST 
SOCIAL  SIN 

THERE  are  times  when  we  are  moved  to  in- 
dignation by  personal  injury.  We  feel 
keenly  the  affront  to  our  self-respect,  and  it 
is  second  nature  to  strike  back  at  the  one  who  has 
wronged  us.  It  is  at  such  times  as  these  that  we 
like  to  recall  that  Jesus  was  very  angry  on  occa- 
sion, or  we  fortify  our  feelings  by  rolling  under  our 
tongues  the  invective  of  an  imprecatory  psahn.  At 
the  same  time  we  ha^'e  an  uncomfortable  feeling 
that  it  is  not  Christian  to  get  angry,  and  we  wonder 
if  after  all  there  is  such  a  thing  as  righteous  indig- 
nation. 

The  key  to  a  correct  understanding  of  this  matter 
is  to  be  found  in  the  motive  that  governs  our  spirit- 
ual reaction.  What  made  me  angry?  Was  it  be- 
cause I  had  been  insulted?  Were  my  interests 
abused?  That  is  one  thing.  Or  was  it  because  I 
resented  a  wrong  done  to  another,  a  violation  of  the 
law  of  God  with  regard  to  human  obligation?  That 
is  quite  another  thing.  Most  of  us  react  to  personal 
134 


EiSI^S 


Righteous  Indignation  Against  Social  Sin    135 


outrage  most  hotly,  while  we  can  remain  little  dis- 
tui'bed  by  the  sufferings  of  others. 

It  was  not  so  with  Jesus.  He  endured  with  meek- 
ness the  insults  that  were  hurled  upon  him,  but  he 
burned  with  a  white  heat  when  he  saw  human  be- 
ings wronged.  When  he  drove  the  money-changers 
from  the  temple,  it  was  not  because  they  had  hurt 
him  directly,  but  because  they  were  desecrating  the 
courts  of  Jehovah,  because  they  were  a  gang  of 
thieves,  grafters,  brokers,  as  scandalous  as  John 
Tetzel  and  his  indulgence-sellers  in  sixteenth-cen- 
tury Saxony.  When  Jesus  denounced  the  Jewish 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  it  was  not  because  they  were 
hounding  him,  but  because  he  saw  in  them  the  ene- 
mies of  his  people,  men  of  the  church  and  the  world 
who  stood  in  the  way  of  the  kingdom  of  personal 
and  social  righteousness  that  he  had  come  to  estab- 
lish.  They  were  enemies  of  the  public  good. 

If  we  would  be  Christlike  we  ought  to  react 
against  social  sin  as  he  did,  but  to  restrain  our  in- 
dignation over  personal  wrong.  The  world  has  seen 
many  social  reforms  since  Jesus  lived,  but  there  are 
grievous  sins  that  still  afflict  the  social  body. 

There  is  the  sin  against  childhood.  Sometimes 
this  seems  to  be  the  unpardonable  sin.  Because  so- 
ciety, yes,  because  Christians  have  been  too  compla- 
cent, children  are  bom  into  poverty,  handicapped 
from  the  start  by  a  weak  body,  and  condemned  to 


If 

if; 


t 


m 


i»'i  •' 


H'iii 


tf..  ;i 


136    Righteous  Indignation  Against  Social  Sin 

grow  up  half-nourished  and  in  an  environment  that 
is  a  curse  to  the  body  and  almost  sure  ruin  to  the 
soul.  And  as  if  that  were  not  enough,  thousands  of 
children  have  been  put  to  work  before  their  time 
and  exploited  by  heartless  greed.  It  was  against 
child  abuse  that  Jesus  reacted  when  he  declared 
that  whosoever  wronged  one  of  God's  little  ones,  it 
were  better  that  a  millstone  were  hung  about  his 
neck,  and  he  were  drowned  in  the  midst  of  the  sea. 
Do  you  react  like  that? 

There  is  the  sin  of  oppression  in  industry.  Read 
the  long  and  dreary  tale  of  slavery  and  serfdom  and 
industrial  bondage  to  the  machine,  and  feel  the  re- 
action. Comprehend  the  soulless  greed  that  has  too 
often  forced  the  helpless  wage-earner  to  toil  long 
hours  under  unnecessarily  hard  conditions,  and 
then  not  earn  a  wage  large  enough  to  keep  a  family 
above  want.  Think  of  these  things,  and  ask  your- 
selves if  the  church  has  any  summons  to  grapple 
with  social  problems. 

And  there  is  the  sin  of  selfish  war.  The  nation, 
like  the  individual  and  the  corporation,  has  been 
selfishly  greedy.  How  often  it  has  trampled  upon 
the  rights  of  weaker  nations,  and  suppressed  the 
aspirations  for  liberty  that  have  stirred  beneath  the 
surface.  And  when  there  seemed  good  prospect  of 
gain,  the  war-god  has  been  invoked  that  he  might 
bless  the  effort. 


~^T^WTl. 


Righteous  Indignation  Against  Social  Sin    137 

Against  this  last  affront  to  international  peace 
and  justice  our  hearts  have  blazed  with  indignation. 
Our  minds  are  ripe  for  a  new  international  order, 
and  we  have  a  growing  faith  that  international  sal- 
vation is  on  the  way.  In  industrial  circles  a  new 
spirit  is  abroad,  and  attempts  are  being  made  to 
reach  industrial  peace  and  justice.  Congress  is  try- 
ing to  find  a  way  to  save  the  children  from  unjust 
oppression,  and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  the  letter 
of  the  law.  But  social  sin  is  not  yet  overcome.  Till 
then  let  us  not  rest  in  apathy.  We  can  afford  to 
smile  at  the  blows  that  smite  us,  but  let  us,  like  our 
Master,  charge  with  flame  and  flail  the  sinner? 
against  the  social  commonwealth  of  God. 

H.  K.  R. 


■':,\\-I,z:lSi:/A^  :i'-i.. 


f   I 


XXXIII 


THE  IRREPRESSIBLE  CONFLICT 


Y' 


THE  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan  is  a  pho- 
tograph in  miniature  of  the  great  war.  The 
attacking  party  is  there,  militant  and  ruth- 
less; the  victim  lies  robbed  and  bleeding  by  the 
roadside.  Could  Germany  and  Belgium  be  imper- 
sonated better  than  that?  As  the  priest  and  Levite 
passed  by,  so  the  neutrals  kept  out  of  the  encounter, 
including  the  United  States  during  the  first  part  of 
the  war.  At  last,  like  the  Good  Samaritan,  America, 
awakened  to  her  duty,  came  with  efficient  aid  to  the 
suffering  victim. 

The  story  uf  the  Good  Samaritan  discloses  in  the 
personal  realm  two  irreconcilable  principles,  which 
the  war  has  revealed  on  a  national  scale.  One  is  the 
exercise  of  might  to  gain  a  selfish  advantage,  the 
other  is  the  practice  of  mercy  for  another's  welfare. 
The  one  meditates  ruin,  the  other  fosters  recon- 
struction. We  are  familiar  enough  with  the  results 
of  these  principles  and  policies  in  the  war  that  is 
coming  to  a  close.  But  the  working  of  these  prin- 
ciples runs  through  all  life.  Community  life  has  its 
138 


The  Irrepressible  Conflict 


139 


destroyers  who  debauch  individuals  and  vitiate  the 
local  atmosphere,  and  it  has  its  social  builders  whose 
positive  influence  is  felt  in  a  constructive  way 
through  school  and  church  and  club.  Business  life 
includes  men  who  fatten  on  the  misfortunes  of 
others,  and  it  has  men  of  another  sort  who  come  to 
the  help  of  the  unfortunate,  and  can  be  counted  on 
to  further  every  good  cause.  The  same  conflicting 
principles  are  at  work  in  industry.  There  are 
forces  that  make  for  distrust  and  unrest — ^the  forces 
moved  by  the  spirit  of  might,  and  there  are  oppos- 
ing forces  that  make  for  conciliation  and  harmony — 
the  forces  inspired  by  the  spirit  of  comity  and  fair 
play.  These  two  principles  are  at  war  in  every  one 
of  us.  We  are  part  pagan  and  part  Christian.  What 
shall  be  the  goal  of  our  endeavor,  if  we  would  be- 
come altogether  Christian?  It  is  none  other  than  a 
continual  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  good  will,  and 
the  habitual  expression  of  that  good  will  in  service. 
This  was  the  mainspring  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 
Why  did  he  distress  himself  to  cure  the  bodily  ills 
of  sufferers  in  Galilee  and  Judea?  Why  did  he 
bother  himself  after  an  all-day  rural  conference  with 
seeing  that  the  people  in  attendance  had  a  collation 
before  they  scattered  for  the  night?  Why  did  he 
turn  from  the  absorbing  spiritual  interests  of  the 
Passover  meal  in  the  upper  room,  when  those  gath- 
ered there  might  come  into  such  intimate  fellow- 


m 


"i.f 


am 


•aV!'-^-    «:  -,i^*:^c3iv 


-•:3i?*'.  ^:/!f^*i-  '    *v.iwCiK? 


140 


The  Irrepressible  Conflict 


J'.!! 


ship  with  God  and  with  one  another,  to  wash  the 
disciples'  feet?  All  his  conduct  is  explained  by  his 
conviction  that  the  spirit  of  good  will  and  service 
was  the  essential  thing  about  the  Christian  religion. 
His  very  superiority  over  his  disciples  compelled 
him  to  become  their  servant.  Noblesse  oblige. 
Thus  Jesus  became  the  Master  of  human  hearts,  and 
the  miracle  repeats  itself  in  every  age. 

Now  there  are  two  conclusions  that  force  them- 
selves upon  us.  The  first  is  that  this  is  the  only 
road  to  mastery  for  the  nations.  National  pride  and 
ambition  call  for  national  aggrandizement.  But  the 
mastery  of  the  future  does  not  lie  that  way.  En- 
gland found  long  ago  that  an  empire  to  be  secure 
must  be  maintained,  not  by  ruling  selfishly,  but 
by  serving  the  interests  of  the  colonies.  Germany 
found  more  recently  that  world  mastery  could  not 
be  won  on  the  principle  of  force.  Today  the  Ameri- 
can President  is  winning  place  and  prestige  for 
America  in  world  affairs  because  he  stands  for  the 
principle  of  mutual  service  for  the  common  good. 

The  second  conclusion  is  that  this  is  the  only  road 
to  eternal  life  for  the  individual.  We  talk  about  eter- 
nal life  as  the  gift  of  God,  and  it  is,  but  in  a  certain 
sense  we  win  it.  Eternal  life  lies  along  the  road 
of  spiritual  progress,  where  good  will  is  on  the 
signboard  and  service  is  the  law  of  the  road.  Wo 
must  move  along  that  highway  to  life's  goal.    Nice- 


^^^r.l^^)i3K&'^e^ 


-r*a»f.>tS' 


j-tLc"' 


The  Irrepressible  Conflict 


141 


dcmus  learned  from  Jesus  that  eternal  life  was  not 
an  abstruse  thing  of  creeds  and  theologies.  The 
inquisitive  lawyer  found  that  it  was  not  a  literal 
observance  of  a  law.  Rather  is  it  the  product  of  the 
principle  that  we  call  righteousness,  cherished  as 
a  motive  in  the  heart,  and  practised  as  opportunity 
offers  along  the  way. 

Eternal  life  is  not  a  thing  to  be  measured  in  terms 
of  time  and  space.  It  is  a  venture  in  chivalry.  Its 
essence  is  a  spiritual  elixir  that  wells  up  as  from  a 
hidden  spring,  a  fountain  of  youth  that  keeps  us 
forever  young  and  noble.  H  K  R 


•7aM 


S^^^^^■-S■'^  -T-r^^'f: 


'J     .t»Z--'.<M.- 


hi 


'» 


•|  -4. 
■!  I 

fit- 


'-. 


PART  II 


I 


ADDRESSES 


Delivered  at  the  Conference  of  The  Baptist  Leaders  of 

New  England  at  The  Newton  Theological 

Institution,  March  17-19.  1919 


■!      M 


if    1; 


11.4 


ts^-^Pi?*g^.'';tM^>j:iaf-^  ?itMjH5g?a^!^i»!PiaaiBaR» 


OUR  SPIRITUAL  RESOURCES  IN  JESUS 


■ 


1D0  not  come  before  you  with  an  academic  dis- 
cussion, but  with  a  spiritual  purpose.  If  I  say 
anything  which  cuts  deep,  remember  that  I  am 
preaching  to  myself  as  much  as  to  you.  God  grant 
then  we  may  all  learn  of  Jesus  this  aftemoon. 

The  greatest  of  our  spiritual  resources  is  Jesus, 
and,  if  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  it,  a  compara- 
tively unused  resource.  Our  people  are  not  well  ac- 
quainted even  with  the  external  life  of  Jesus.  To 
be  sure  from  most  pulpits,  but  not  from  all,  they 
frequently  hear  his  name,  as  a  sort  of  motto,  slogan, 
or  motive  to  action,  and  they  have  a  general  knowl- 
edge of  the  account  of  his  birth,  his  baptism,  his 
death,  and  his  resurrection ;  but  very  few  could  give 
an  intelligent  and  moderately  detailed  account  of 
his  character,  career,  or  teachings.  The  reason  for 
this  state  of  things  is  that  not  many  of  the  preach- 
ers could  do  it.  The  reason  of  the  ignorance  of  many 
preachers  is  that,  while  in  the  Acts  we  have  one 
plain  account  of  Paul  and  his  missionary  work,  the 
history  of  Jesus  is  contained  in  four  Gospels,  whose 
K  14.5 


=siiiifeiP55gg^BaB^.^»i»i^y»j^^^^B^^ 


|i 


'in 


U      ■■! 


146        Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 

order  and  points  of  view  are  quite  different,  giving 
at  first  a  confused  and  confusing  impression.  It 
takes  time  and  labor  for  the  pastor  to  get  clear  ideas 
about  Jesus,  and  this  time  and  labor  comparatively 
few  are  disposed  to  expend,  because  they  either  lack 
diligence  or  think  the  matter  unimportant.  The  re- 
sult is,  especially  in  these  days  when  Bible  reading 
is  going  out  of  fashion  even  for  some  ministers,  that 
Jesus  grows  dim  and  shadowy,  and  easily  passes 
into  the  realm  of  myth  and  legend.  More  and  more 
we  lose  the  spiritual  impact  of  his  personality  and 
his  living  words,  and  in  losing  it,  we  lose,  to  say  the 
least,  one  of  the  most  important  elements  in  a  vital 
Christianity.  So  far  has  this  gone  that  here  is  a 
field  fresh  and  interesting  to  our  generation,  and 
those  pastors  who  are  cultivating  it  by  preaching 
and  teaching  Jesus,  are  reaping  rich  harvests. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  speak  to  you  this  afternoon 
about  Jesus.  The  theme  is  so  great  and  many-sided 
that  in  this  brief  hour  we  can  take  but  one  view- 
point. We  might  speak  of  the  glorified  Saviour,  ex- 
alted to  the  right  hand  of  God,  ruling  and  regener- 
ating the  world  by  his  Spirit.  We  might  sketch  the 
story  of  his  life  in  Palestine.  We  might  present 
him  as  the  great  example  or  the  great  teacher.  We 
might  seek  the  deeper  meanings  of  the  Cross  or  of 
the  Resurrection.  Any  of  these  topics  would  be 
fruitful,  but  we  propose  to  ourselves  another  aspect 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  JesuB         117 


of  Jesus,  his  own  spiritual  experience.  We  intend 
then  to  apply  it  to  our  case  and  by  this  application 
to  prove  to  you  the  value  of  the  experience  of  Jesus 
as  a  spiritual  resource.  We  are  his  disciples,  and 
he  bade  us  learn  of  him.  His  first  exhortation  and 
well  nigh  his  last  was,  Follow  me.  The  simplest  and 
one  of  the  most  pregnant  conceptions  of  Christianity 
is  that  to  be  a  Christian  is  to  be  a  follower  of  Jesus, 
and  that  not  in  any  external  way  of  mere  imitation, 
but  by  becoming  so  united  with  him  in  purpose  and 
spirit  that  we  shall  live  his  life  over  again,  and  in 
deepest  reality  share  his  experiences.  This  is  one 
of  the  ideas  always  at  the  back  of  Paul's  mind.  We 
are  crucified  with  him,  die  with  him,  are  buried  with 
him,  rise  with  him.  Not  because  we  try  to,  but  be- 
cause, if  our  wills  and  hearts  and  lives  are  truly  one 
with  his,  we  cannot  but  work  out  essentially  the 
same  experience.  He  marked  out  broadly  the  spirit- 
ual path  which  all  who  bear  the  cross  must  tread, 
just  because  they  arc  cross-bearers.  "Always," 
says  Paul,  "  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life" — ^the  resurrection- 
iife — "also  of  Jesus  may  be  manifested  in  our 
body."  The  great  apostle  illustrates  this  fact,  that 
the  experiences  of  Jesus  will  be  the  experiences  of 
his  followers  in  principle,  by  the  incidents  of  the 
latter  days  of  Jesus  on  earth.  Is  it  not  legitimate 
to  extend  the  comparison  and  find  in  all  the  capital 


i!! 


^1 

1 


h   > 


1 18         Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 

experiences  of  the  career  of  Jesus  the  pro£fram  of 
the  spiritual  life? 

Of  course  in  the  time  at  our  disposal,  we  can  ex- 
plore superficially  only  a  very  few  of  these  experi- 
ences of  Jesus ;  indeed  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to 
three ;  First,  his  fundamental  experience  of  God  out 
of  which  grew  his  call;  second,  his  experience  of 
temptation;  and  third,  his  experience  in  his  work, 
out  of  which  grew  the  conviction  that  he  must  die. 


I.  His  Experience  of  God 

Jesus  never  could  remember  the  time  when  he  did 
not  know  God.  God  was  the  very  center  of  his  life 
and  thought.  Jesus  was  absolutely  sure  of  him. 
Never  a  doubt  about  him  ever  flitted  across  his 
mind.  All  nature  sang  of  God  to  him,  and  he  saw 
his  Father's  hand  in  each  event  of  life.  He  found 
his  thought,  his  feeling,  his  will  one  with  God's. 
There  was  a  deep  understanding  between  them, 
which  no  incident  or  accident  ever  disturbed.  So 
he  lived  in  daily  communion  with  his  Father,  and 
this  communion  was  the  sunshine  of  his  soul,  the 
very  life  of  his  inmost  spirit,  his  abiding  joy. 

But  he  found  himself  in  a  world  which  had  no 
such  experience,  a  world  of  sin,  selfishness,  lust, 
pride,  anxiety,  sorrow,  disaster,  and  death.  This 
stirred  his  Saviour  heart.    He  was  filled  with  com- 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus         149 

passion  for  men,  for  they  were  scattered  and  dis- 
tressed as  sheep  that  had  no  shepherd.  He  knew 
that  all  their  sin  and  misery  would  vanish  if  they 
could  only  live  like  him  in  the  sunshine  of  his  Fa- 
ther's face,  and  he  longed  to  bring  them  into  the 
blessing  which  irradiated  his  life  with  purity,  peace, 
and  joy.  And  this  was  his  call,  a  call  from  above. 
This  was  lus  great  work.  It  was  perfectly  simple, 
perfectly  plain,  though  difficult  in  the  extreme.  All 
he  had  to  do  was  to  bring  men  into  the  same  commu- 
nion with  God  which  he  enjoyed.  His  whole  busi- 
ness was  to  give  himself,  to  impart  to  others  his 
own  experience.  This  was  salvation,  and  he  was 
Saviour,  for  he  found  in  himself  the  spiritual  re- 
sources to  do  a  Saviour's  work.  Character  and  ex- 
perience were  at  the  bottom  of  his  high  vocation. 

Brethren,  how  deep  and  heart-searching  is  the 
lesson!  To  be  sure,  we  are  sinners,  and  certainly 
we  shall  never  enter  so  deeply  into  communion  with 
the  Father  as  Jesus  did.  But  if  we  have  had  the 
gracious  and  exceedingly  precious  experience  of  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  we  too  in  Jesus  have  had  access 
to  the  Father,  and  know  Jesus'  peace  and  Jesus'  joy, 
yet  with  an  element  of  humble  gratitude  for  unde- 
served grace  which  Jesus  and  the  angels  never 
knew.  And  so  we  get  the  new  life,  which  is  Jesus' 
life,  the  life  in  God  and  communion  with  him.  We 
find  ourselves  one  with  Jesus  in  spirit,  in  purity,  in 


w^f^'mBSi^rr'iitmaBS^ 


150 


Our  Spiritual  ResourcoB  in  Josus 


purpose,  in  hope,  bound  up  in  the  bundle  of  life 
with  him  and  with  the  Father,  who  are  one. 

It  is  only  on  the  basis  of  such  an  experience  that 
we  have  any  right  to  preach.  Without  it,  preachers 
have  no  function,  they  have  nothing  to  give,  they 
have  only  second-hand  news  to  tell.  I  deeply  sym- 
pathize with  doubters  in  this  age,  and  I  have  been 
a  doubter  myself,  but  doubters  cannot  preach  the 
gospel.  Doubt  cannot  awaken  conviction  or  confi- 
dence, or  bring  men  to  decision.  Only  those  who 
know  salvation  by  personal  inner  experience  can 
preach  salvation  as  it  ought  to  be  preached  with 
thankful  hearts  and  glowing  faces,  and  joy  and 
wonder  in  the  tone.  Only  such  men  have  a  tempera- 
ture high  enough  to  bring  souls  to  the  fusing-point 
of  metamorphosis.  We  have  no  right  to  think  that 
God  has  called  us  to  be,  under  Christ,  saviors  of 
men,  unless  we  find  in  ourselves  the  resources  of 
salvation.  And  if  we  do  have  this  experience, 
whether  lajTrien  or  ministers,  we  cannot  but  tell  it 
to  others.  In  true  preaching  there  is  something  in- 
stinctive and  spontaneous.  Salvation  is  so  good 
that  we  want  all  men  to  share  it  with  us.  To  keep 
still  would  be  the  most  cruel  selfishness,  unworthy 
of  a  man,  let  alone  of  a  Christian.  As  in  Jesus'  case, 
character  and  experience  must  stand  behind  our  vo- 
cation, indeed  must  constitute  it.  What  we  are  must 
be  the  root  of  what  we  preach.    And  unless  that  root 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus         151 


is  living,  vigorous,  and  full  of  power,  our  preaching 
will  be  idle  words.  Like  Jesus,  all  we  have  to  give 
is  ourselves;  let  us  be  careful  that  it  is  something 
rich  and  attractive,  something  really  worth  getting. 
But  some  one  may  say,  our  best  is  pretty  poor. 
We  should  strive  to  give  men,  not  our  experience, 
but  that  of  Jesus.  We  must  lead  them  to  him  in 
whom  all  fulness  dwells.  That  to  be  sure  is  the 
true  objective,  but  how  can  we  lead  men  to  Christ? 
Only  as  they  see  Christ  in  us;  and  they  will  see 
Christ  in  us,  only  in  so  far  as  he  truly  dwells  in  us 
and  shines  in  our  conduct.  There  is  something  to 
deprecate,  it  seems  to  me,  in  the  seeming  humility 
which  looks  on  our  experience  of  grace  as  a  pretty 
poor  thing.  That  comes  close  to  saying  that  the 
divine  salvation  is  a  pretty  poor  thing.  Paul  did 
not  speak  that  way.  He  did  not  and  could  not  boast 
of  himself,  but  he  did  boast  of  what  Christ  had  done 
in  him  and  for  him.  It  was  the  unspea'  able  gift, 
God  had  shined  in  his  heart  to  give  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God.  It  was  indeed  con- 
tained in  an  earthen  vessel,  but  was  itself  a  heavenly 
treasure,  precious  beyond  comparison.  He  speaks 
of  it  as  the  riches  of  grace,  as  an  energy  for  new 
life  to  be  likened  only  to  the  divine  power  which 
raised  Jesus  from  the  dead.  If  we  profess  only  a 
little  salvation,  we  proclaim  to  men  that  we  have 
only  a  little  Saviour.    But  if  the  confidence,  peace. 


M' 


:  i 


f  .1 


152        Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 

joy,  and  triumph  of  our  lives  show  the  working  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  us,  we  shall  be  living  epistles, 
known  and  read  of  all  men.  Think  of  it,  brethren, 
every  time  we  enter  a  home,  we  may  be  a  letter  from 
God  right  to  the  hearts  of  those  who  dwell  there. 

This  false  humility  which  underlies  the  idea  that 
we  are  pretty  poor  examples  of  our  religion  is  due 
principally  to  the  resurgence  of  the  doctrine  that  we 
must  save  ourselves,  and  that  any  boasting  of  the 
greatness  of  our  salvation  is  a  glorifying  of  our- 
jselves.  Of  course  too,  we  should  say  in  passing  that 
if  we  are  saving  ourselves,  it  is  doubtless  pretty  poor 
business,  and  we  have,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  pretty 
poor  savior.  But  this  is  not  the  New  Testament 
teaching.  While  it  does  recognize  human  coopera- 
tion, its  whole  emphasis  is  on  the  fact  that  salvation 
is  of  God,  is  his  free  gift,  working  in  as  repentance, 
faith,  and  every  grace,  an  unmerited  and  undeserved 
favor,  and  that  when  we  rejoice  in  it,  we  praise  not 
ourselves,  the  unworthy  recipients,  but  the  gracious 
Giver.  Only  this  conception  can  restore  to  us  a  real 
religion,  which  praises  God  with  gratitude  and  joy 
all  the  day  long,  and  is  enthusiastic  enough  to 
propagate  itself.  So  we  repeat  that  we  are  the  body 
of  Christ  through  which  he  acts  in  the  world,  that 
men  must  see  Christ  in  us,  before  we  can  lead  them 
to  Christ.  We  must  be  saved  before  we  can  be  sav- 
iors. We  are  not  sign-posts,  pointing  in  a  direc- 


<r?»£5i'*r.7  .-f.iaiRwa '  !■  i^:rf.'V^^aB^< 


ir':''*^ 


'«sa::^£;t*#i^€v; 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 


153 


tion  we  have  never  gone,  but  trolley-cars  to  take 
men  to  the  central  power-station  which  is  energizing 
us,  and  without  that  energj'  we  are  stalled. 


II.  The  Temptation 

Jesus  was  now  convinced  that  he  was  the  Messiah, 
that  he  was  God's  special  representative  sent  to 
bring  salvation  to  men,  and  that  his  work  as  Saviour 
was  to  give  men  himself,  his  inner  experience  of 
communion  with  God  and  the  purity,  peace,  and  joy 
that  came  from  it.  But  how  was  the  carpenter's 
son  to  manage  it?  How  should  he  begin?  What 
should  he  do?  On  what  principles  should  he  pro- 
ceed? If  we  have  been  floating  along  without  even 
having  put  such  questions  squarely  to  ourselves,  if 
we  have  never  had  time  to  come  to  a  deliberate  de- 
cision as  to  ways  and  means,  it  might  be  well  for  us 
to  spend  six  weeks  alone  and  in  praj'er,  as  Jesus  did. 
And  if  we  did  so,  we  might  possibly  understand 
more  clearly  the  temptations,  to  which  we  now  often 
yield,  scarce  knowing  it,  and  which  eat  the  heart 
out  of  our  usefulness. 

In  the  first  temptation,  Jesus  is  a  starving  man, 
so  hungry  that  at  least  he  wants  to  make  stones 
bread.  But  he  will  not  do  it.  It  is  the  subtle  entice- 
ment to  use  his  supernatural  power  for  his  temporal 
advantage.    This  he  was  sure  was  wrong.    Such  a 


( 


WiFjnat>i  f.Hti^'- ..«"« 


154         Our  Spiritual  Besources  in  Jesus 


principle  of  action  would  allow  him  to  rescue  him- 
self in  every  pinch,  wo  id  mean  a  life  far  removed 
from  ours,  would  in  fact  make  it  impossible  for  him 
to  save,  would  be  a  selfish  use  of  a  divine  power. 
Rather  he  will  trust  God  to  help  him,  when  he  can- 
not help  himself  without  sin,  and  if  it  is  not  God's 
will  to  help,  he  can  die,  but  he  cannot  sin. 

This  same  temptation  comes  to  us  in  a  thousand 
veiled  forms,  an  insidious  evil  which  lames  our 
power  at  its  source.  To  be  sure,  we  have  no  mir"\cu- 
lous  gift,  we  cannot  make  stones  bread,  but  we  do 
have  spiritual  power,  the  power  of  an  inner  experi- 
ence of  God  and  salvation,  and  we  are  often  tempted 
to  commercialize  it,  to  make  it  the  means  of  getting 
bread.  Some  of  us  trade  on  it  to  put  money  in  our 
purse,  or  save  ourselves  money.  Some  of  us  use  it 
to  gain  influence  over  others,  worldly  social  posi- 
tion, and  the  applause  of  men.  You  all  know  what 
I  mean,  and  the  excuses  we  make.  We  are  so  poor, 
we  have  no  other  perquisites.  They  all  do  it.  Men 
expect  it  of  us.  Alas !  the  last  is  largely  right.  Men 
have  come  to  expect  it  of  us,  and  by  this  same  token, 
the  ministry  has  lost  its  power  over  them,  for  they 
secretly  feel  that  we  are  just  like  them  after  all 
and  are  seeking  money,  case,  and  power  just  as  they 
are.  Nor  should  we  forget,  poor  as  some  of  us  are, 
that  covetousness  is  as  great  an  enemy  of  the  poor 
as  of  the  rich.    This  is  not  losing  our  life  that  we 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus        15j 


4 

f 


may  gain  it.  The  taunting  cry  of  the  enemies  of 
Jesus  on  the  cross,  "  He  saved  others,  himself  he 
cannot  save,"  is  still  the  inexorable  rule  for  all  sav- 
iors. If  we  are  to  save  others,  we  cannot  save  our- 
selves. 

In  the  second  temptation,  Satan  practically  says 
to  Jesus :  "  Ah !  I  see,  you  are  a  man  of  faith !  You 
are  of  those  who  will  not  save  themselves,  but  will 
trust  in  God.  Well,  let  us  see  you  trust  in  God  then ! 
Leap  down  these  hundreds  of  feet ;  does  not  God  in 
his  word  say,  '  He  shall  give  his  angels  charge  con- 
cerning thee,  and  on  their  hands  they  shall  bear 
thee  up,  lest  thou  dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone?  '  " 
This  is  the  lure  of  fanaticism,  the  temptation  to  the 
other  extreme.  If  Satan  cannot  commercialize  a 
minister  and  make  him  worldly,  he  then  tries  to 
make  a  fanatic  of  him  and  render  his  faith  and  con- 
stancy ineffective  by  turning  it  into  folly;  and  he 
succeeds  all  too  often.  This  was  the  ruin  of  all  the 
Messianic  pretenders  of  Jesus'  age  and  of  many 
since  that  age,  but  Jesus  was  untouched  by  it.  He 
laid  down  his  principle.  He  would  not  make  a  show 
of  faith.  He  would  not  tempt  God.  He  would  not 
run  into  danger  except  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  then 
he  would  not  avoid  it.  He  would  see  in  the  laws  of 
nature  his  Father's  own  laws,  and  would  not  violate 
them,  hoping  for  exceptional  aid.  He  would  be 
sane.    So  dangerous  is  this  allurement  to  spiritual 


i  I 


i  (■ 


"UrSF^T 


^s^" 


S^SSE^ 


156        Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 

men  of  a  certain  type  that  we  may  take  the  time  to 
draw  a  picture  of  the  fanatic,  the  sincere  fanatic, 
of  the  higher  and  not  of  the  coarser  type. 

The  fanatic  is  a  man  of  faith.  He  has  the  highest 
ideals,  and  he  is  a  man  of  courage  too.  He  is  a  liter- 
alist  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  It  makes 
no  difference  to  him  whether  the  words  stand  in 
Ecclesiastes  or  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  whether 
they  come  from  the  dark  age  of  the  Judges  or  from 
Paul  on  Mars  Hill,  whether  they  are  in  the  original 
manuscripts  or  not.  It  is  all  one  to  him,  and  gener- 
ally he  takes  the  surface  meaning  or  an  allegorical 
interpretation,  disregarding  all  the  progress  of  the 
Church  in  the  art  of  exposition.  His  exegesis  is 
always  inspired.  His  motive  is  frequently  that  of 
proving  his  faith  to  his  opponents,  showing  it  off 
before  the  world.  There  is  often  a  subtle  self- 
righteousness  in  a  fanatic,  a  species  of  spiritual 
vanity.  There  is  usually  no  real  purpose  to  be 
served  by  his  course  of  action.  He  runs  ahead  of 
providential  indications,  creates  situations,  attempts 
to  force  the  will  of  God.  Self-will  is  the  insignia  of 
the  fanatic.  He  not  only  runs  ahead  of  Providence, 
but  he  often  runs  against  natural  law,  indulges  in  a 
tilt  with  the  universe.  He  fails  to  understand  that 
natural  law  is  merely  the  habits  of  the  Almighty, 
and  that  miracle  is  at  least  not  the  ordinary  divine 
method. 


'-l^-': 


^  ?^^ 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus        157 


-I 

i 


Lastly,  he  is  8ure,  no  one  can  move  him  or  argup 
with  him.  God  has  revealed  to  him  that  he  will  do 
this  particular  miracle  for  him  or  that  he  himself 
must  do  this  particular  extraordinary  thing.  Ho 
declares  that  he  must  follow  conscience  or  the  Spirit, 
not  perceiving  that  he  is  following  his  own  self-will. 
He  follows  cor.ccience  or  the  Spirit  as  the  man  in  the 
carriage  follows  the  horses  which  he  drives. 

The  only  means  of  avoiding  fanaticism  are  a 
deeper  and  wiser  piety  like  that  of  Josus,  a  wider 
view  of  nature  (especially  of  psychology)  and  of 
God's  ways  with  men,  a  broader  and  truer  view  of 
the  Bible.  Tn  other  words,  the  fanatic  has  never 
had  a  real  education  under  the  best  religious  lep.der- 
ship. 

In  the  third  temptation,  Satan  says:  "  Well,  after 
all,  you  are  a  man  of  common  sense,  quite  a  man  of 
the  world;  then  take  Ihe  worldly  view  and  use  the 
worldly  means."  This,  of  course,  vas  the  tempta- 
tion  to  the  political  Messiahship,  which  involved  a 
world  war  with  the  Roman  Empire  and  at  the  end 
riding  up  the  Sacra  Via  to  the  Capitcline  as  a  con- 
queror. It  was  a  glittering  dream,  the  short  road  to 
glory.  The  divinely  promised  Messianic  world  em- 
pire and  the  natural  instinct  to  avoid  pain  and  trou- 
ble and  take  the  easiest  way  might  have  tempted 
Jesus,  but  he  resolutely  refused  the  lure,  and  de- 
liberately chose  instead  the  slow,  hard  road  of  truth 


II'  i 

IF   i  - 


158         Our  Spiritual  Reaources  in  Jesun 


4       ■     ! 


ii  ^ 


■    i 


h 


preaching  in  a  world  of  sin,  the  way  oi'  the  Cross. 
He  coul^'  not  for  any  end,  however  good  and  great 
in  itself,  subordinate  himself  to  evil  principles,  or 
employ  the  blood-stained  weapon  of  aggressive  war. 
By  this  process  of  attaining  his  goal  he  would  have 
lost  the  cause  which  he  had  carried  to  seeming  vic- 
tory, indeed  would  have  lost  his  own  soul.  Nothing 
can  show  more  clearly  than  the  whole  temptation 
how  scrupulous  Jesus  was  in  the  quality  of  the 
methods  he  employed.  He  had  no  sympathy  with 
the  Jesuit  proverb,  "  The  end  justifies  the  means." 
His  watchword  was,  "  Only  right  means  to  right 
ends." 

How  completely  this  demolishes  our  modem 
fetish  of  success !  How  it  strengthens  us  to  despise 
the  modem  fear  of  failure !  The  first  and  great  req- 
uisite in  life  is  to  live  it  Ihrough  and  maintain  a 
pure,  good,  loving  heart,  which  has  no  thought  of 
serving  self  cr  winning  applause,  but  whose  whole 
object  is  the  service  of  men,  the  making  of  a  better 
world.  He  who  stoops  to  questionable  means  to  win 
the  victory,  by  that  very  act  loses  it.  He  who  keeps 
his  ideal  of  personal  purity  and  loving  service  un- 
stained, cannot  know  defeat,  though  deserted  by 
all  and  cried  down  by  the  whole  world.  Jesus  con- 
sists ..tly  followed  this  narrow  way  wl:ich  leads  at 
length  to  life  and  true  success,  when  he  seemed  to 
throw  away  the  result-s  of  his  Galilean  ministry  at 


Our  Spiritoal  Betourcee  in  Jesus         159 

the  crisis  at  Capernaum,  and  when  he  ended  his  life 
upon  the  Cross  instead  of  on  a  throne  as  his  dis- 
ciples expected.  Yet  from  that  Cross  he  today  rules 
a  vaster  empire  than  any  disciple  could  possibly 
have  conceived,  and  his  influence  has  entered  into 
the  warp  and  woof  of  humanity  so  intimately  as  to 
presage  his  final  triumph.  How  difficult  always  to 
take  the  long  view  and  the  hard  road!  Yet,  if  we 
are  followers  of  Jesus,  cross-b  carers  in  the  proces- 
sion which  he  still  leads,  followers  of  the  white- 
robed  martyrs  and  saints,  we  shall  do  it,  and  that 
with  faith  and  joy.  Such  spiritual  leaders  and  they 
alone  give  the  lie  to  the  world's  sneer  that  every 
man  has  his  price,  and,  though  working  in  obscure 
places,  have  not  only  the  approval  of  God  and  their 
own  consciences,  but  preach  the  gospel  by  their 
lives  and  strange  unworldly  choices  more  eloquently 
and  persuasively  than  popular  rhetoricians.  They 
are  the  salt  of  the  earth,  the  light  of  the  world,  the 
undying  root  of  an  ever-living  Church.  May  you 
and  I  have  a  part  in  that  glorious  company! 


:      i\ 


III.  Jesus'  Experience  in  His  Ministry 

There  never  was  a  more  indefatigable  worker 
than  Jesus.  When  at  last  the  time  came,  he  threv.' 
himself  into  his  career  with  a  zeal  and  energj^  rarely, 
if  ever,  equaled.    The  Spirit  drove  him  forth  into 


1 60         Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 


the  tiold.  It  was  an  aggressive  campaign.  He 
sought  men.  He  did  not  wait  for  them  to  come  to 
him.  He  went  after  them.  He  thrust  himself  and 
his  message  on  their  attention.  Ceaselessly  he  pur- 
sued his  preaching  tours,  from  village  to  village, 
from  city  to  city,  from  province  to  province,  week 
after  week,  month  after  month.  It  was  the  first 
great  evangelistic  campaign,  never  equaled  as  a 
speaking  tour  till  the  campaigns  of  Bryan  and 
Roosevelt  in  our  own  day.  But  Jesus  did  it  on  foot, 
and  with  a  thoroughness,  a  persistence,  and  a  vigor 
beyond  all  praise.  The  white  harvest  was  always 
before  his  eyes  and  on  his  heart.  He  prayed  for 
helpers  and  urged  others  to  pray  for  them.  No  difli- 
culties  or  weariness  held  him  back.  Over  the  moun- 
tains and  through  the  wilderness  the  Shepherd 
sought  his  sheep.  He  sent  out  his  still  unprepared 
disciples  by  the  dozen  and  the  seventy  on  the  same 
mission.  From  the  very  first,  he  had  intended  to 
make  them  fishers  of  men. 

It  was  a  preaching  ministry.  Preaching  was 
Jesus'  principal,  and,  except  healing  and  helping, 
his  only  method.  He  believed  in  the  power  of  truth 
to  set  men  free.  .As  the  great  sower,  he  sowed  the 
divine  message  in  men's  hearts,  the  message  of  tho 
kingdom  and  its  new  and  blessed  life.  He  urged 
men  to  enter  the  kingdom,  showed  them  hov^  to  do 
so,  and  solemnly  warned  them  of  the  consequences  of 


'^^^^^- 


Oui'  Spiritual  Resources  in  J«»sub         161 

refusal.  He  revealed  to  them  the  Father  heart  of 
God,  bade  them  cast  aside  the  weaiy  yoke  of  legal- 
ism, and  find  rest  in  his  experience  of  joy  and  his 
new  service  of  love. 

Brethren,  if  we  are  followers  of  such  a  leader,  we 
shall  be  hard  put  to  it  lo  keep  up  with  him.  It  is  in 
Jesus  that  we  first  find  that  strenuous  life,  which 
is  always  a  mark  of  his  religion  at  its  best,  that 
eager,  earnest  spirit,  that  tireless  divine  energy 
ever  pushing  us  out  and  beyond.  There  is  no  place 
for  shirkers  or  slackers  in  Jesus'  kingdom,  no  room 
for  self-indulgence  or  ease  there.  We  are  all  sworn 
to  the  Master's  oath  of  self-dedication:  "I  must 
work  the  works  of  him  that  sent  me,  while  it  is  day. 
The  nighi;  cometh,  when  no  man  can  work."  A  little 
more  of  the  Master's  unwearied  diligence  in  the  real 
business  of  the  kingdom  would  mightily  aid  things 
Just  now.  In  many  a  parish  nothing  is  more  needed 
than  that  the  minister  should  begin  to  take  his  work 
more  seriously.  Four-fifths  of  the  failures  in  the 
pastorate  are  caused  by  laziness.  Mind  you.  I  do 
not  say  that  four-fifths  of  the  ministers  are  lazy, 
l)ut  that  four-fifths  of  the  failures  in  the  pastorate 
are  due  to  laziness.  Up  late  in  the  morning,  slow  in 
getting  to  work,  dawdling  in  the  study  without  aim 
or  method,  hours  wasted  in  social  intercourse  and 
trivialities,  a  penchant  for  vacations  and  nervous 
Itreakdowns  due   to  doing  nothing   in   particular. 

L 


it 


iV  a 


i  ; 


162        Our  Spiritual  Besourcee  in  Jesus 


We  all  know  the  type,  a  type  as  unlike  the  freshness, 
vigor,  and  purpose  of  Jesus  as  can  be  imagined. 
Thank  God,  it  is  a  decreasing  species,  and  in  the 
critical  days  soon  coming,  it  is  doomed  to  extinction. 
Yet  to  every  one  of  us  comes  the  call  to  put  on  a  new 
spirit,  to  add  eagerness  to  our  industry,  and  zeal  to 
diligence,  that  we  may  stand  before  the  tireless 
Preacher,  who  shall  be  our  Judge,  blameless  and  un- 
ashamed. 

At  some  time  during  his  Galilean  ministry  Jesus 
seems  to  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  would 
never  be  able  to  bring  the  people  into  the  kingdom 
by  preaching  only,  but  that  he  must  add  to  his 
preaching  dying.  Not  in  spite  of  his  death,  but 
through  his  death,  he  became  convinced  that  he 
would  become  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  History 
has  proved  the  truth  of  his  conviction.  The  Cross 
is  the  greatest  factor  in  the  power  of  Christianity. 
Jesus  saved  the  world  by  dying  for  it. 

A  thousand  questions  arise  here  for  answer,  and 
we  must  admit  once  for  all  that  there  was  somp 
thing  so  unique  in  the  death  of  Jesus  that  the  com- 
parison between  him  and  us  in  this  regard  cannot 
be  pressed  far.  And  yet  I  am  quite  certain  that,  if 
we  are  to  fulfil  our  mission,  we  too,  like  Jesus,  must 
add  dying  to  preaching.  I  mean  it  seriously.  We 
should  be  so  sure  of  God's  call  to  us  that  we  should 
deliberately  and   irrevocably  make  up  our  minds 


Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus        163 


that  we  will  fulfil  our  ministry  at  any  cost,  even 
though  it  cost  us  our  life.  We  should  solemnly  re- 
solve that  no  opposition,  no  obstacles,  no  severity  of 
labor,  no  poverty,  no  danger  should  ever  cause  us  to 
abandon  our  God-given  task.  Indeed,  it  is  not  at  all 
impossible  that  with  Antichrist  rising  in  Russia,  we 
may  be  forced  to  meet  the  martyr's  test,  but,  fail- 
I  ing  that,  if  we  faithfully  speak  the  whole  counsel 

'•  of  God,  we  may  easily  be  called  upon  to  suffer  re- 

jection, scorn,  and  the  poorhouse.  But  if  this  be 
God's  plan  for  us,  like  Jesus,  we  must  set  our  face 

'  to  go  up  to  our  tragic  Jerusalem. 

i  There  is  a  tradition  of  that  past  prudential  age 

before  1914,  whose  motto  was  "  Safety  first,"  that 

I  the  successful  preacher  is  the  one  who  makes  no 

enemies,  who  dies  with  the  love  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. But  our  Lord  Jesus  came  to  a  very  differ- 
ent end.  He  was  despised  and  rejected  of  men,  a 
man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  he  was 
numbered  with  the  transgressors,  and  died  a  cruel 
and  shameful  death,  jeered  at  by  a  savage  and  piti- 
less mob.  Possibly  we  have  tried  too  hard  to  please 
everybody,  have  too  easily  compromised  with  sin, 
and  have  been  afraid  to  stir  up  the  hatred  of  evil 
men.  The  contrast  between  our  funerals  and  our 
Lord's  death  on  the  cross  may  possibly  be  a  witness 
against  us.  And  yet  I  mean  more  than  this  by 
"  adding  dying  to  preaching."    All  that  I  have  al- 


m\ 


!'  I 


I 


ii 


161         Our  Spiritual  Resources  in  Jesus 

rsady  said  is  an  sssontial  part  of  it.  Tht  stsm  rs- 
solve  to  see  it  through  like  a  man  and  a  Christian 
must  ever  be  in  the  background,  ready  to  come  into 
the  foreground  when  required.  But,  there  must  be 
a  daily  dying,  a  free  pouring  out  of  our  life  and 
energy  into  other  souls,  a  prodigal  expenditure  of 
ourselves  in  worthy  work,  that  disregard  of  comfort 
and  ease  which  our  soldiers  demonstrated  in  the  Ar- 
gonne  and  on  the  Meuse.  The  hour  has  struck  for 
the  Christian  ministry  to  rededicatc  itself  to  its 
task,  larger  and  more  exacting  than  ever  before,  to 
gird  up  its  loins  with  a  firmer  and  more  heroic  pur- 
pose, to  throw  self-regard  to  the  winds,  and  meet 
the  crisis  of  all  history  with  an  abandon  and  a  smile, 
which  can  come  only  from  a  God-given  experience 
and  a  God-given  courage.  The  cry  is  for  truth- 
tellers,  for  men  who  will  dare  to  lead,  and  the  minis- 
try must  not  fail  either  Christ  or  the  world. 

F.  L.  A. 


-mr. 


n 


THE  CALL  TO  THE  CHURCH  FOR 
RECONSTRUCTIVE  WORK 

(Professor  Donovan's  address  was  prepared  and  delivered 
with  no  thought  of  publication.  Because  of  its  adaptation 
to  the  special  audience,  and  its  somewhat  intimate  and 
personal  character,  only  a  summary  of  the  main  points  can 
be  given.    The  following  is  furnished  by  him.) 


I 


HE  began  with  an  acknowledgment  to  Presi- 
dent Horr  and  the  Newton  trustees  for  the 
leave  of  absence  which  enabled  him  to 
spend  several  months  in  France  in  Y.  M.  C.  A.  ser- 
vice; and  then  outlined  his  opportunities  for  obser- 
vation overseas.  In  this  connection  he  paid  a 
tribute  to  the  unprecedented  achievements  of  the 
Government  in  raising,  transporting,  and  provision- 
ing such  an  immense  army : 

That  national  army  was  just  a  cross-section  of 
the  American  people.  No  man  came  into  close  con- 
tact with  that  cross-section  without  having  a  loftier 
conception  of  America,  a  greater  pride  in  his  Ameri- 
can citizenship.  Over  and  over  one  heard,  "  You 
cannot  work  for  these  boys  without  getting  to  love 
tliom."    We  came  also  to  have  a  feeling  almost  like 

165 


J 


ll't'' 


'•}   ■'    ! 


,  'I       . 


;':!!!» 


,  ,1 


lOG        The  Call  for  Eooonati-uoUve  Work 

awe  in  the  presence  of  the  cheery  heroism  with 
which  those  boys  took  discomfort  and  suffering, 
even  faced  the  supreme  sacrifice.  The  strength  of 
the  army  was  in  its  morale.  History  tells  of  no 
army  to  match  the  cleanness  and  joyous  spirit  of 
the  American  troops.  Preachers  to  such  men  had  to 
feel  their  need  of  a  message  grounded  in  the  power 
of  God. 

For  my  first  point,  I  want  to  turn  from  my  gi-eat 
admiration  for  our  men  and  bid  you  think  of  the 
calamity  and  horror  of  this  war,  in  spite  of  all  the 
nobility  that  may  have  shone  through  in  places.    I 
want  to  remind  you  of  the  exceedingly  precious 
things  that  can  never  be  reconstructed.    Among  the 
great  losses  to  the  world  we  think  first  of  the  mil- 
lions of  lives  taken  in  their  prime,  of  the  homes 
and  families  that  might  have  been,  of  the  hopes  and 
plans  that  now  are  ended  by  the  simple  white  crosses 
in  France.    Again,  the  destruction  of  material  and 
productive  values  will  cramp  the  comfort  and  ca- 
pacity for  human  service  of  many  generations.    The 
gieat  activities  of  the  church  will  be  retarded  for 
centuries  by  this  destruction  of  treasure.    But  be- 
yond everything  else  should  be  put  the  moral  and 
spiritual  losses.    It  is  natural  to  think  first  of  dis- 
honored treaties.    Deeper  still  is  the  wrong  of  set- 
ting millions  of  men  to  kill  and  destroy.    But  most 
fundamental  is  the  fearful  retrogression  to  the  idea 


The  Call  for  Beoonstruotive  Work       167 


that  the  final  appeal  in  this  world  is  to  brute  force. 
All  the  great  Christian  nations  have  reverted  to  the 
principle  of  force  as  a  last  resort.  Bolshevism  is 
loiiical  if  selflsh  force  is  the  suprenie  thing  in  the 
world. 

Viewed  in  one  way  these  attacks  upon  the  mo- 
rality of  mankind  constitute  irreparable  losses.  To 
the  end  of  time  the  world  will  feel  their  stunting 
effects  upon  moral  and  spiritual  values.  In  another 
way,  however,  they  emphasize  the  need  for  recon- 
structive agencies  and  principles.  Resources  for 
Christian  work  have  not  increased.  Duties  have  not 
diminished.  No  new  morality  or  new  religion  has 
been  developed  in  the  war.  The  appeal  of  Christ 
has  not  been  supplanted.  The  purposes  of  God  do 
not  fail.  Calvary  shall  not  be  in  vain.  Nineteen 
centuries  of  Christian  progress  must  not  be  buried 
under  the  wooden  crosses  of  European  battle-fields. 
The  very  losses,  frightful  as  they  are,  constitute  the 
challenge  to  Christian  effort. 

Having  considered  these  losses,  f^rst,  to  appre- 
ciate the  tragedy  of  our  time,  and  secondly,  to  get 
the  challenge  which  they  offer  to  the  forces  of  good, 
we  come  in  the  third  place  to  ask  the  means  by 
which  recovery  is  to  be  made.  The  war  has  added 
no  new  elements  to  the  age-long  struggle.  The 
power  of  love  and  the  love  of  power  are  still  at 
strife.    HhvS  the  Christ  choson  any  new  agency,  or 


JK'»--.3I 


y     I 


[i  i 


1  I 


f    ' 


168       Th«  Call  for  Boooiutructive  Work 

is  hlB  work  still  to  b«  done  through  loyal  followers 
united  in  what  we  call  the  organized  church?  No 
substitute  for  the  Christian  church  has  been  evolved. 
All  the  schemes  for  social  betterment  have  collapsed 
in  the  cataclysm  of  the  last  four  years.  The  gospel 
message  must  still  be  presented,  but  presented  as 
never  before,  and  as  the  supreme  social  scheme. 
Church  and  ministry  face  the  greatest  task  ever 
ofTered  them. 

Early  in  the  war  much  was  said  about  a  new  type 
of  church.  Some  were  even  sure  that  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  was  that  type. 

By  general  argument  and  numerous  Incidents 
the  speaker  maintained  that  the  work  of  the  '*  Y  " 
and  that  of  the  army  chaplains  were  confessedly 
only  a  temporary  expedient  to  provide  in  abnormal 
conditions  what  the  church  which  is  awake  to  its 
mission  offers  to  men  in  normal  conditions.  No  new 
doctrines  have  been  formulated.  All  the  much 
heralded  changes  have  been  in  the  direction  of  pro- 
viding  a  better  mechanism  for  the  oldtime  spiritual 
forces.  The  changes  have  not  been  in  fundamentals 
but  in  externals  of  organization  and  administration. 
The  great  effect  on  Christian  workers  overseas  was 
a  restraint  upon  non-essentials,  and  a  new  enthu- 
siasm for  essentials.  ]\ray  the  non-essentials  of 
rivahy  and  form  never  emerge  from  the  limbo  to 
which  they  were  relegated,  and  may  the  essentials 


[%  i 


The  Call  for  Reoonitraotive  Work       169 


of  the  divine  life  in  man  through  Christ  novtr  Iom 
the  push  given  in  the  heat  of  the  struggle!  The 
"  Comrades  in  Service  "  and  other  religious  move- 
ments planned  for  1918-1919  in  France  were  just 
what  live  pastors  are  seeking  for  their  men  in  Amer- 
ica. The  peculiar  features  were  the  adaptation  of 
metliods  to  conditions.  Nobody  is  to  relieve  the 
church  of  her  task.  Whoever  else  may  find  his  old 
job  taken  as  he  comes  back  from  the  war,  the  church 
is  sure  of  her  old  Job  and  more  adaed. 

In  the  fourth  place,  and  finally,  look  at  some  con- 
ceptions which  have  been  stressed  in  the  war  which 
ought  to  render  large  service  in  the  rebuilding  for 
which  the  need  is  so  imperative.  These  will  be 
grouped  as  exterior  and  interior  conceptions.  Ex- 
ternally the  lesson  of  cooperation  has  been  enforced 
by  the  draft,  by  the  generosity  to  each  other  of  the 
various  arms  in  the  service,  by  the  intimate  fellow- 
ship of  the  **  buddies."  There  has  been  the  clarify- 
ing effect  of  facing  gi*eat  issues,  the  emancipation 
from  the  bondage  to  things.  The  soldier  has  learned 
how  many  things  he  can  do  without,  what  things  he 
must  have.  He  has  felt  the  thrill  of  King  Albert's 
willingness  to  lose  "  everything  but  my  soul."  This 
clarified  view  will  make  him  less  patient  of  petty 
distinctions,  more  insistent  on  positive  attainment 
of  worthy  objectives.  We  may  protest  against 
features  of  Doctor  Fosdick's  recent  arraignment  of 


<H'r 


MICROCOPY   RESOIUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No    2) 


I.I 


1^11 2.8 
1^  ra«= 

11^ 

1^    |3.2 

1^ 

!r  li* 

ill  2.0 

il5  i  u 


1.8 


1.6 


^  APPLIED  IIVHGE     Inc 

SS".  '653  Cast    Ma.n   sue?! 

STJS  Rochester.   Ne*   vork        '4609       USA 

■^=  ("6)   482  -  0300  -  Phone 

^=  (/!6)    288  -  5989  -  Fq, 


170       The  Call  for  Reconstructive  Work 


the  church,  but  he  has  caught  in  Franco  the  demand 
for  a  church  that  shall  stand  for  great  positive 
ideals.    Right  along  with  the  lesson  of  cooperation 
comes  an  apparent  opposite,  the  recognition  of  in- 
dividual values.    Man-power  was  the  need  every- 
where.   The  need  taught  a  new  reverence  for  hu- 
manity and  personality.     No  individual  unit  could 
be  overlooked.     The  last  man  must  be  inspected, 
drilled,  inoculated,  equipped,  cared  for  in  minute 
details  of  personal  hygiene.    He  lost  his  right  to 
personal  habits.    But  the  general  concern  for  his 
habits  gave  to  the  indi  idual  a  new  importance  at 
the  same  time  that  it  taujht  him  new  subordination. 
Then  interiorly,  the  war  has  been  fought  for 
spiritual  ideals.    The  victory  has  been  a  victory  of 
ideals.     Cei-tain  Christian  truths  have  shone  out 
with  startling  brilliance.    Take  the  idea  of  suffering 
for  others.    We  have  learned  that  we  are  all  bound 
in  the  bundle  of  life  together.    We  know  that  the 
innocent  do  expiate  the  sins  of  the  guilty.     (Inci- 
dents of  hospital  trains  and  of  sacrifices  were  used 
by  the  speaker  to  illustrate  this.)    We  have  felt  the 
power  of  a  life  given  over  to  a  great  purpose.    On 
both  sides  of  the  water  the  life  of  the  camps  has  been 
lived  in  the  atmosphere  of  consecration  to  a  great 
cause.    Military  ceremonies  have  every  day  incul- 
cated reverence  for  unseen  realities,  for  the  flag 
and  other  sjnnbols  of  these  realities.    The  satisfac- 


The  Call  lor  BecousUuctive  Work        171 


tion  expressed  by  dying  men  that  they  could  do  their 
share  has  told  of  the  old  truth  that  man  must  lose 
his  life  to  save  it.  Men  who  have  so  lavished  their 
all  for  high  ideals  must  have  noble  ideals  of  re- 
ligion presented  to  them.  Small  views  and  low 
ideals  are  out  of  place  with  them  and  with  those 
v/ho  have  been  supporting  them. 

We  have  just  witnessed  the  superb  outpouring  of 
which  human  nature  is  capable  when  confronted 
with  a  sufficient  motive.  Over  in  France  our  preach- 
ers are  reminding  the  men  of  what  they  were  glad  to 
endure  that  they  might  "  win  the  war."  "  Now," 
the  preachers  ask,  "  what  are  you  willing  to  do  in 
peace  to  maintain  the  ideals  for  which  the  war  was 
fought?  "  So  here  at  home  we  need  to  urge  by  all 
the  losses,  and  by  the  unprecedented  new  demands 
and  opportunities,  that  our  churches  show  in  peace 
the  same  vigorous  uprising  to  meet  a  crisis  that  was 
displayed  so  readily  in  time  of  war.  It  is  our  task 
to  make  available  the  resources  which  the  war  has 
disclosed  and  to  apply  them  with  equal  devotion  to 
the  work  of  Christ  and  his  kingdom. 

W.  N.  D. 


t  : 


r''iii 
m 


III 


MAKING  CHRISTIANITY  EFFICIENT 


IT  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  enormous  ca- 
lamity, to  the  whole  world,  of  the  great  war, 
which  has  now  happily  come  to  an  end,  even 
if  peace  has  not  yet  been  formally  established.  It 
is  not  only  on  the  fields  of  northern  France  that  the 
disasters  of  the  war  are  to  be  seen,  but  everywhere 
throughout  the  wide  world.  Every  child  born  into 
the  world  for  the  last  thirty  years  will  have  a 
heavier  burden  of  labor  and  struggle. 

We  cannot  help  asking  what  is  to  be  the  result  of 
this  tempest  of  destruction  upon  every  human  inter- 
est. "  Reconstruction  "  is  the  word  on  all  lips,  but 
it  is  of  uncertain  definition.  There  are  many  things 
in  the  world  of  1914  that  have  vanished  beyond  the 
skill  of  man  to  restore;  like  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims 
or  the  millions  of  men  dead  on  the  fields  of  Flan- 
ders, they  are  lost  forever.  Other  things  may  be 
repaired,  like  a  building  that  has  been  only  slightly 
injured ;  others  can  only  give  place  to  new  structures 
upon  the  old  foundations,  while  others  may  be  made 
more  efficient  than  ever,  like  the  German  steam- 
172 


Making  Christianity  Eflicient 


17:] 


ships  whose  speed  was  multiphed  when  they  were 
equipped  with  American  engines. 

Is  the  cause  of  religion,  .ns  represented  by  the 
historic  Christian  Church,  jac  of  the  things  that 
will  vanish  from  the  new  world  upon  which  we  are 
now  entering,  or  has  it  only  been  slightly  injured, 
or  must  it  be  radically  changed  to  survive  at  all,  or 
does  it  simply  need  some  new  access  of  power  to 
be  made  more  efficient  than  ever? 

All  such  answers  presuppose  that  our  common 
Christianity  has  not  been  strengthened  by  the  war, 
and  I  think  that  most  candid  observers  will  admit 
that  this  is  the  fact.  The  outlook  for  religion  is  not 
fairer  than  it  was  in  1914.  If  the  decline  is  not  so 
startling  as  some  would  represent,  certainly  there 
has  been  little  advance.  There  has  been  no  general 
revival  of  religion,  and  probably  the  spiritual  status 
of  the  men  in  the  field  is  not  materially  different 
from  what  it  was  when  they  entered  the  war.  Old 
habitudes  have  been  deepened  and  strengthened,  but 
there  have  been  comparatively  few  radical  transfor- 
mations of  character  either  for  better  or  worse. 
Christianity,  on  the  whole,  during  these  critical 
years  has  not  so  profoundly  influenced  the  world 
that  the  faith  of  the  multitudes  beam^  more  brightly 
or  the  common  life  of  men  rises  to  a  higher  spiritual 
level. 

Some  attempts  have  been  made  to  mitigate  the 


m 


174 


Ilaking  Christianity  Efficient 


force  of  this  statement  by  pointing  out  that  the 
spirit  of  helpfulness  and  self-sacrificing  service  has 
been  resplendently  illustrated,  and  that  that  is  the 
true  spirit  of  religion,  even  though  the  man  who 
renders  it  does  so  with  an  oath  on  his  lips.  The 
assertion  has  often  been  quoted  from  James  that 
"  true  religion  is  to  visit  the  widows  and  fatherless 
in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  oneself  unspotted  from 
the  world."  This  is  one  of  the  most  unfortunate 
translations  in  our  whole  English  version.  The 
Greek  word  translated  "religion"  (threskeia) 
never  means  "  religion  "  in  the  Christian  sense.  It 
always  means  ritual,  ceremonial,  form  of  worship. 
What  the  apostle  James  said  was  that  the  true  ritual, 
outward  manifestation  of  religion,  consisted  in  this 
humanitarian  service.  He  did  not  say  that  humani- 
tarian service  was  the  Christian  religion.  Chris- 
tianity is  something  far  deeper,  far  profounder  than 
that.  It  grounds  itself  in  the  filial  attitude  of  man 
toward  the  heavenly  Father.  No  matter  how  kind 
brothers  may  be  to  one  another,  there  can  be  no 
family  life  if  all  of  them  are  at  variance  with  their 
father.  Whether  we  like  it  or  not,  we  hold  a  rela- 
tion to  the  heavenly  Father.  We  are  living  in  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  there  can  be  no  abiding  bless- 
edness to  any  one  of  us  so  long  as  we  are  at  vari- 
ance, "  unreconciled,"  as  the  apostle  phrases  it,  to 
God.    There  are  two  great  commandments,  and  you 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


175 


cannot  have  the  religion  of  the  Bible  by  ignoring  the 
first  commandment.  You  can  have  the  religion  of 
Auguste  Comte  and  of  Frederic  Harrison,  but  not  of 
the  historic  Christian  faith. 

In  my  judgment,  those  go  much  too  far  who  as- 
sert that  Christianity  has  totally  failed  in  this  world 
crisis.  Perhaps  it  is  fairer  to  say  that  it  has  not 
failed  at  all  wherever  it  has  been  really  practised, 
and  that  what  these  awful  years  have  shown  is  not 
that  the  Christian  gospel  is  untrue  or  ineffective, 
but  that  its  disciples,  with  few  exceptions,  have  not 
completely  surrendered  themselves  to  it,  and  that  it 
has  seldom  been  tried  at  all  in  any  whole-hearted 
and  absolute  fashion. 

This  seems  to  be  the  fact :  organized  Christianity 
has  not  been  the  power  over  the  lives  of  men  in  these 
awful  years  that  we  had  a  right  to  expect  it  would 
be.  It  did  not  prevent  war  between  the  three  great 
Protestant  nations  of  the  world,  and  between  the 
three  great  Roman  Catholic  peoples.  It  did  not 
ameliorate  war  on  the  part  of  the  Central  Powers, 
and  it  had  no  decisive  voice  in  settling  the  internal 
conflicts  of  the  nations  during  the  war  and  may  not 
have  in  determining  the  conditions  of  peace. 

Such  a  situation  calls  for  the  most  serious  con- 
sideration on  the  part  of  all  Christian  men.  A  con- 
siderable number  of  Christian  believers  are  making 
much  more  extreme  statements  than  any  I  have  sug- 


! 


■  ik 

i  J 

-A 


176 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


gested,  and  som«  ar«  claiming  that  the  world  has 
been  constantly  becoming  worse  and  that  the  only 
hope  is  the  appearance  of  Christ  and  the  conquest 
of  evil  by  the  armies  of  heaven.  They  declare  that 
if  Germany  could  not  conquer  the  world  by  force, 
Christ  can  and  will,  and  that  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  to  be  set  up  principally  by  physical  means. 

Others  hold  that  neither  the  facts  of  the  present 
situation  nor  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures bears  out  this  forecast,  and  that  the  efficiency 
of  the  moral  and  spiritual  forces  of  Christianity  has 
seldom  been  completely  realized.  From  this  point 
of  view,  our  first  duty  is  to  ask  what  neglects  or 
perversions  of  Christian  truth  may  account  for  the 
partial  failure  of  the  Christian  gospel,  which,  if 
corrected,  may  be  to  our  present  organized  Chris- 
tianity what  the  American  engines  and  engineers 
were  to  the  interned  German  steamships. 


The  Gospel  and  the  Individual 

I.  In  suggesting  some  answers  to  this  question  I 
remark,  in  the  first  place :  That  the  great  masses  of 
mankind,  who  call  themselves  Christians,  need  a 
fresh  and  vivid  impression  and  conviction  as  to 
what  the  Christian  gospel  really  is.  A  few  years 
ago  I  had  here  at  Newton  as  my  guest  an  eminent 
New  Testament  scholar,    A  warm  friendship  arose 


Making  Christianity  Eifioient 


177 


between  us,  and,  among  other  discussions,  we  sought 
to  agree  upon  a  definition  of  "the  gospel."  The 
formula  upon  which  we  united,  and  which  has  re- 
ceived some  favorable  consideration  abroad,  is  this, 
"  The  gospel  is  the  possibility  of  reconciliation  with 
God  and  a  new  life  through  personal  relationship  to 
Jesus  Christ."  It  seemed  to  us  that  this  brief  state- 
ment covered  many  important  points:  the  two  co- 
ordinate features  of  human  need — reconciliation 
with  God  and  a  new  human  life — and  this  accom- 
plished through  personal  relationship  to  Jesus 
Christ,  a  living  personality,  with  whom  men  may 
form  close,  immediate  ties  of  fellowship,  confidence, 
and  obedience.  I  need  not  tarry  to  point  out  the 
important  implications  of  this  statement  as  to  the 
nature  of  Christ  and  his  resurrection  from  the 
dead. 

But  the  main  thing  on  which  I  wish  to  fasten  at- 
tention is  that  this  position  emphasizes  personal 
relationship  to  Jesus  Christ  as  the  condition  of  the 
reconciliation  with  God  and  the  new  life,  that  to- 
gether constitute  salvation.  Now  this  is  the  ele- 
ment in  the  gospel  that  it  seems  to  me  has  largely 
fallen  out  of  our  current  religious  thought,  and  be- 
cause of  this  we  can  see  a  reason  for  its  relative 
inefficiency. 

Nothing  can  take  the  place  in  Christianity  of 
this  personal  relationship  to  Christ  that  the  New 
M 


' 


178 


Making  Chriitianity  Efficient 


Testament  calls  "faith."  Heredity  cannot  do  it. 
"God  is  able  of  stones  to  raise  up  children  to 
Abraham."  No  ceremony  like  baptism  or  the  Sup- 
per can  do  it.  No  relationship  to  the  church  can 
do  it.  No  attitude  toward  the  Bible  can  do  it.  "  Go 
search  the  Scriptures,"  said  Jesus,  "  in  them  ye 
think  ye  have  eternal  life."  But  you  do  not  have 
it.  There  is  no  eternal  life  in  the  Scriptures. 
"  They  are  they  that  testify  of  me,  and  ye  will  not 
come  unto  me  that  ye  may  have  eternal  life." 
Eternal  life  is  in  Christ  alone,  not  in  blood,  or  ordi- 
nances, or  churches,  or  Scripture ;  and  all  these  that 
are  ways  to  him  may  become  obstacles  to  keep  us 
from  him,  and  we  find  ourselves  honoring  the  road 
rather  than  the  goal,  substituting  the  means  for  the 
end. 

One  can  hardly  fail  to  see  that  this  is  exactly  what 
much  of  our  organized  Christianity,  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  has  been  doing.  No  one  doubts  that 
there  is  much  genuine  piety  in  the  pedobaptist 
churches  of  Europe  and  America  and  in  the  great 
Roman  obedience.  At  the  same  time  one  can  hardly 
fail  to  see  that  the  teaching  that  grace  is  conferred 
by  rite,  that  baptism  of  an  unconscious  child  grafts 
it  into  the  body  of  Christ,  is  almost  cunningly  de- 
vised to  substitute  rite  or  church  for  the  vital  per- 
sonal relationship  of  the  individual  soul  to  the  living 
Christ. 


Making  Chriitianity  Efficient 


179 


No  clearer  definition  of  what  it  is  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian was  ever  given  than  that  of  Jesus,  "  My  sheep 
hear  my  voice,  and  they  follow  me.'"  The  response 
of  the  soul  to  the  voice  of  Jesus  is  like  the  response 
of  a  faithful  dog  to  the  voice  of  his  master;  like  the 
response  of  a  human  soul  to  the  voice  of  love;  like 
the  response  of  the  woman  at  the  tomb  on  the  resur- 
rection morning  to  Jesus'  utterance  of  her  name. 
That  response  of  the  soul  to  Christ  and  obedience 
to  him  constitutes  the  Christian,  and  nothing  else 
does. 

This  is  the  supreme  truth  for  which  our  own  de- 
nomination has  always  stood — personal  relationship 
to  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  not  always  been  as  loyal 
to  it  as  we  ought  to  have  been.  Too  often  our  wit- 
ness has  been  indistinct  and  muffled.  Like  the  Is- 
raelites in  Canaan,  we  have  found  it  easy  to  wor- 
ship the  gods  of  the  nations.  But  can  we  believe 
that  if  the  conception  of  the  Christian  life,  and  of 
faith  BB  the  condition  of  it,  for  which  we  stand,  had 
actt'  ;ly  do  mated  the  convictions  and  activities  of 
all  Chris!  churches,  our  organized  religion  would 
have  been  d    ineffective  as  it  seems  to  have  been? 

It  is  Si  'imes  f^^aid,  and  more  often  insinuated, 
that  the  our  denomination  has  passed,  and 

that  our  .  nction  is  to  merge  with  others  and 

quietly  tak  n  inconspicuous  seat.  But  it  is  more 
than  doubtf      if  the  Christian  churches  need  any- 


180  Making  Christianity  Efficient 

thing  quit«  so  much  88  they  need  the  truth  lor 
which  we  stand,  and  if  this  tempest-tossed  world 
nr.>d8  anything  so  much  as  the  clear  pointing  of 
souls  to  the  Saviour  of  mankind. 


The  Gospel  and  Society 

II.  In  the  second  place,  is  one  seriously  amiss  in 
seeing  another  source  of  our  religious  failure  in 
ignorance  or  indifference  as  to  the  social  applica- 
tions of  the  gospel  ? 

I  imagine  that  what  I  have  said  thus  far  elicits 
your  assent,  but  I  am  not  at  all  sure  that  you  will 
agree  with  what  I  am  about  to  say.  Tremors  run 
through  the  average  congregation  when  the 
preacher  uses  the  adjective  "  social,"  and  when  he 
carries  out  the  inevitable  implications  of  the  word 
he  is  pretty  sure  to  be  reminded,  in  one  form  or 
another,  that  it  is  his  business  to  preach  "  the  sim- 
ple gospel,"  and  that  he  is  straying  far  outside  his 
province  if  he  brings  a  message  to  business,  to  poli- 
tics, to  social  reform. 

We  are  wont  to  claim  that  Christianity  is  a  uni- 
versal faith  that  is  capable  or  awakening  a  response 
in  all  human  souls.  Missionary  history  is  a  most 
impressive  evidence  of  this  assertion.  Hardly  a 
tribe  on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  remained  un- 
touched by  Christian  truth,  and  some  of  the  most 


Making  Ch^-istianity  Efficient 


181 


ladioil    transfornmtioD.s    oi    rliar*  (•r    havr    Im-n 
made  among  the  most  unpromiiing  pe  nUo— liK- 
the  profound  change  in  Terra  del  Fuego,  which  so 
moved  Charles  Darwin  that  he  contributed  annual'/ 
to  missions  all  the  rest  of  his  life. 

But  there  is  an  internal  as  well  as  external  uni- 
versality. Christianity  might  make  some  tangen- 
tial relationship  with  every  race,  and  yet  fail  to 
reach  all  the  needs  and  inspire  nil  the  activities  of 
any  individual.  The  problem  of  internal  univer- 
sality is  quite  as  serious  as  that  of  external  expan- 
sion. Can  our  religion  meet  all  the  wants  of  the 
human  soul  and  dominate  all  the  legitimate  activi- 
ties of  men,  ruling  in  the  sphere  of  all  human 
relations,  setting  the  ideals  in  business  and  com- 
merce, in  art,  in  literature,  in  politics,  and  in  inter- 
national relationships?  Has  it  a  compelling  mes- 
sage as  to  the  conflicts  of  labor  and  capital ;  as  to 
the  duty  of  the  privileged  classes  to  the  unprivi- 
leged? Has  it  anything  to  do  with  sanitation  and 
education  and  the  social  order? 

Perhaps  the  most  of  us  could  not  approve  without 
qualification  all  the  acts  of  that  great  American 
who  has  so  recently  passed  away — Theodore  Roose- 
velt— but  no  candid  student  of  our  times  can  fail 
to  recognize  that,  under  his  inspiration  and  leader- 
ship, American  business  did  much  to  purify  itself  of 
evil  practices.    The  level  of  commercial  honor  is  dis- 


m 


182 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


tinctly  higher  than  it  was  twenty  years  ago.  There 
is  much  to  be  done,  but  a  good  start  certainly  has 
b^en  made. 

It  is  clear  as  sunlight  that  one  result  of  the  pro- 
found upheaval  of  the  war  has  been  not  only  to 
promote  politicr'  democracy,  but  industrial  democ- 
racy. A  few  years  ago  when  capitalists  were  called 
on  to  submit  a  labor  dispute  to  arbitration,  the  reply 
often  was,  "  There  is  nothing  to  arbitrate."  Did  you 
notice  the  other  day  in  New  York  City,  in  a  wage 
conflict,  that  this  was  not  the  reply  of  the  employ- 
ers, but  of  the  employees?  The  simple  fact  that  this 
reply  is  now  made  by  men  on  whose  lips  a  few  years 
ago  it  would  have  been  inconceivable  is  a  significant 
straw  showing  how  the  wind  has  shifted.  The  con- 
ciliatory address  of  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  the 
other  day  at  Atlantic  City,  in  which  he  recognized 
the  right  of  the  community  to  a  voice  in  the  conduct 
of  a  business,  and  of  the  employees  to  a  voice  in  the 
management,  has  been  widely  heralded  as  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  era  in  business;  but  it  is  only  a 
beginning,  and  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  in  a  few 
years  the  claim  of  labor  as  the  predominant  partner 
in  management  were  the  real  issue. 

The  war  has  brought  the  social  problems  of  liquor, 
of  prostitution,  of  child-labor,  of  sanitation,  recrea- 
tion, and  education  to  the  front.  And  the  men  who 
have  sacrificed  so  much  at  home  and  abroad  vrill 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


188 


demand  that  a  country  worth  risking  life  for  shall 
be  made  a  country  worth  living  in. 

It  is  not  fair  to  claim  that  oin*  common  Chris- 
tianity does  not  show  itself  in  these  movements.  It 
does.  Take  out  of  them  what  Christian  men  have 
contributed  to  them,  and  there  would  not  be  enough 
left  to  be  worth  talking  about.  Some  are  drawing 
unfavorable  comparisons  between  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  the  churches,  as  if  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  did  not  spring 
out  of  the  very  heart  of  the  church,  and  as  if  it  had 
not  been  sustained  all  these  years,  and  been  enabled 
to  do  its  great  work  in  the  war,  by  the  self-sacrifice 
and  gifts  of  Christian  m.en.  When  a  company  of 
unbelievers  will  match  proportionally  the  work  of 
the  evangelical  churches  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  there 
will  be  some  slight  ground  for  the  charge  that  the 
modem  church  is  not  interested  in  doing  the  works 
of  Christ. 

The  Social  Mind 

The  churches  as  a  whole  do  not  see  it.  They  arc 
not  socially  minded.  The  obstacle,  of  course,  that 
stands  in  the  way  of  a  common  effort  to  express  the 
social  mind  of  organized  Christianity  in  most  places 
is  the  fact  of  the  denominational  separation  of  the 
churches.  And  probably  you  would  hear  in  many 
quarters  that  nothing  can  be  done  until  all  denomi- 
national divisions  are  obliterated.    Undoubtedlv  the 


in 
is 


eWGR-T 


id 


184 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


.;    i 


merging  of  all  the  denominations  would  make  such 
work  easier  and  more  economical,  but  I  doubt 
whether  any  great  work  for  the  kingdom  was  ever 
accomplished  simply  by  taking  the  easier  course. 
The  truth  is  that  all  noble  Christian  service  springs 
out  of  passion,  and  the  searching  criticism  of  the 
churches  and  of  organized  Christianity,  as  a  whole, 
is  that  it  is  not  marked  by  social  passion.  We  do 
not  feel  the  need ;  we  are  not  moved  profoundly  by 
the  call.  And  the  great  problem  of  Christian  union 
will  never  be  solved  by  the  negotiation  of  eccle- 
siastics around  a  green  table;  it  will  only  be  solved 
by  the  processes  of  life,  through  enthusiastic,  pas- 
sionate interest  in  human  welfare. 

There  is  no  minister  here  who  is  not  confronted  in 
his  own  community  with  some  phase  of  this 
enormous  social  problem.  The  best  test  of  the  moral 
status  of  a  community  is  to  ask:  "Is  this  a  good 
place  in  which  to  bring  up  children?  Would  I 
choose  this  place  as  a  community  in  which  to  bring 
up  my  family?  If  it  is  not  such  a  place,  what 
does  it  lack?  What  are  the  practical  ends  at  which 
Christian  people  and  the  Christian  churches,  as  ex- 
ponents of  the  Christian  ideal,  should  aim?"  The 
answer  to  such  questions  solves  your  problem  at 
once. 

These  are  Christian  tasks.  The  average  Protes- 
tant church  does  not  present  to  its  members  a  man's 


Making  Christianity  Efficient  185 


job.  Broadly  speaking,  it  only  knows  how  to  utilize 
two  classes  of  persons — those  who  can  talk,  and 
those  who  can  give  money.  The  first  can  speak  in 
prayer-meeting,  and  possibly  teach — though  talk- 
ing and  teaching  are  different  functions  that  are 
often  confused — and  the  second  class  can  supply 
the  means  to  keep  the  church  going.  But  there  is 
an  enormous  amount  of  unutilized  power  in  all  our 
churches,  idle,  because  churches,  as  a  whole,  lack 
the  social  mind,  and  leave  unreaped  the  fields  white 
to  harvest. 

And  we  must  be  on  our  guard  against  being  mis- 
led by  the  common  fallacy  that  it  is  necessary  that 
all  the  individuals  composing  a  group  should  be- 
come Christians  to  make  the  group  a  Christian 
force.  That  is  the  fallacy  that  blights  the  outlook 
of  too  many  Baptists.  Dr.  Avery  Shaw  has  well 
said :  **  I  suppose  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  cannot 
recall  a  family,  a  business,  an  industrial  organiza- 
tion, all  of  whose  members  w^re  Christians,  while 
the  whole  group  in  its  details,  its  processes,  its  in- 
fluence was  essentially  unchristian.  On  the  other 
hand,  have  we  not  all  kno^vn  similar  social  groups 
where  the  ideals  and  processes  were  strongly  Chris- 
tian through  the  dominating  influence  of  the  one 
earnest  Christian  in  the  group?  " 

A  French  general  has  been  quoted  as  saying  that 
twprsty  per  cent  of  the  French  soldiers  were  cowards, 


If 


186 


Making  Christianity  Effloiont 


twenty  per  cent  fearless  fighters,  while  sixty  per 
cent  were  cowards  or  fearless  according  as  they 
were  led.  One  recalls  what  Napoleon  said  to  Mar- 
shal Ney,  "  An  anny  of  deer  led  by  a  lion  is  better 
than  an  army  of  lions  led  by  a  deer."  In  every  com- 
munity a  Christian  lion  can  lead  all  the  deer  to 
victory. 

We  are  having  before  our  eyes  a  salient  illustra- 
tion, on  an  enormous  scale,  of  a  Christian  privilege 
and  duty.  We  regret  profoundly  that  the  relation 
of  this  nation  to  world  peace  is  becoming  a  question 
of  partisan  politics,  but  th..t  ought  not  to  prevent 
us,  in  a  conference  like  th  s,  from  recognizing  the 
Christian  opportunity  of  tl  ese  critical  days. 

My  own  experience  has  perhaps  been  peculiar. 
As  a  student  of  foreign  politics  for  twenty  years, 
and  for  almost  as  long  a  writer  on  international 
questions,  I  could  not  understand  the  policy  of 
President  Wilson,  and  I  found  that  even  Cabinet 
officials  were  not  entirely  clear  about  it.  I  resolved 
to  read  the  entire  body  of  President  Wilson's  writ- 
ings and  speeches  and  draw  my  own  conclusions. 
That  study  yielded  a  specific  and  definite  result.  I 
apprehended  afresh  what  I  knew  before  perfectly 

,  well,  that  in  our  own  time  the  world  has  become  a 
narrow  street.  What  was  a  block  of  clay  has  been 
transmuted  into  a  block  of  marble.     When  you 

(strike  a  block  of  clay  nn  impulse  is  transmitted 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


187 


through  the  mass;  your  rod  is  simply  imbedded  in 
it ;  but  when  you  strike  a  block  of  marble  every  par- 
ticle of  it  vibrates  to  the  stroke,  and  it  rings.  In 
our  own  day  the  world  has  become  a  block  of  mar- 
ble. Nothing  happens  anywhere  that  is  not  felt 
everywhere.  The  markets  of  the  world  instantly 
register  every  commercial  change.  The  cotton  quo- 
tations in  Liverpool  within  a  few  minutes  affect  the 
exchanges  of  Memphis  and  New  Orleans,  Alex- 
andria, Egypt,  and  Calcutta.  One  science  is  studied 
at  Tokyo  and  Johns  Hopkins.  The  literature  of 
Russia  is  at  home  in  London  and  Boston,  and  Petro- 
grad  and  Pekin  read  Dickens  and  Thackeray.  John 
Fiske  is  as  well  knoAvii  in  Japan  as  in  Boston.  Every 
one  knows  these  things,  but  what  I  at  least  did  not 
know,  and  what  I  learned  from  President  Wilson, 
was  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  whole  world 
was  ready  to  respond  to  a  common  moral  idealism. 
And  it  was  given  to  him  to  issue  the  call  to  the 
recognition  of  a  common  law  of  righteousness  to  em- 
body itself  in  industrial  law  and  binding  interna- 
tional agreements.  There  are  no  hermit  nations. 
National  isolation  is  no  longer  possible.  If  we 
believed  that  it  was  possible  we  had  no  business  to 
enter  the  war  in  cooperation  with  the  Entente 
Powers.  Freedom  from  entangling  alliances  is  no 
longer  an  open  question.  We  are  in  them,  and  we 
cannot  get  out  of  them  except  by  an  ignominious 


fAi 


;  i  i; 
;  (i; 


188 


Making  ChriBtianity  Efficient 


>     I 


policy  of  scuttle,  which  will  perpetuate  for  a  cen- 
tury at  least  the  conditiona  out  of  which  the  war 
arose. 

The  real  question  is  not  whether  or  not  we  are 
sacrificing  something  of  our  independence,  in  co- 
operation with  others.  Every  treaty  we  ever 
made  infringes  our  abstract  independence.  The 
real  question  is  whether  we  are  ready  to  sacrifice 
irresponsibility  and  take  up  our  share  of  the  world's 
burdens  and  make  our  contributions  to  the  solution 
of  the  world's  problems. 

It  may  well  be  that  the  proposed  League  between 
the  nations  may  be  improved  by  well-considered 
amendments,  but  no  one  can  read  the  debates  re- 
ported in  the  Congressional  Record  without  see- 
ing that  there  is  a  faction  in  the  Senate  that  does 
not  realize  that  we  are  living  in  a  new  age,  that 
national  isolation  is  no  longer  possible,  and  that  we 
are  now  confronting  the  fairest  opportunity  of  the 
Christian  ages  to  give  the  conscience  of  the  world 
a  genuinely  regulative  power  in  the  affairs  of  the 
world. 

For  my  part,  I  have  no  doubt  as  to  the  issue. 
For,  at  bottom,  the  question  is  whether  or  not  the 
Christian  life  and  Christian  ideals  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  relations  of  States,  and  whether  the 
law  of  the  tooth  and  the  claw  is  to  be  superseded  by 
the  Christian  law  of  justice  and  good-will. 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


God  and  Resident  Forces 


189 


III.  Am  I  wholly  wrong  in  thinking,  in  the  third 
place,  that  one  cause  of  our  comparative  ^'ailure  may 
be  a  weakened  sense  of  dependence  upon  God  ?  Have 
we  relied  too  much  upon  what  LeConte  calls  "  resi- 
dent forces "  and  too  little  upon  the  divine  will 
exterior  to  the  sequences  of  physical  causation  ? 

Lately  I  have  read  considerable  portions  of  the 
New  Testament  in  another  tongue,  and  I  have  been 
impressed  with  the  fact  that  our  very  familiarity 
with  the  English  version  may  obscure  the  fact  that 
the  whole  narrative  is  saturated  and  vibrating  with 
forces  from,  another  realm.  In  the  Bible  records  the 
Most  High  is  very  near,  and  he  is  responsive  to  the 
prayers  of  his  people.  Many  Christians  apparently 
today  feel  like  Belshazzar  and  say  in  their  hearts, 
if  not  with  their  lips, "  Is  not  this  the  Great  Babylon 
that  I  have  builded?  "  And  the  God  in  whose  hand 
our  breath  is,  we  have  not  glorified. 

Kipling  was  a  prophet  to  the  whole  world,  as  well 
as  to  England,  when  at  the  Queen's  Diamond  Jubi- 
lee in  1897  he  uttered  the  prophetic  warning: 

For  heathen  heart  that  puts  her  trust 

In  reeking  tube  and  iron  shard — 
All  valiant  dust  that  builds  on  dust, 

And  guarding  calls  not  Thee  to  guard — 
For  frantic  boast  and  foolish  word, 
Thy  mercy  on  thy  people,  Lord. 


i  'A-M 


I    I 


ill 

>!i 


ii^ 


190 


Making  Christianity  EiHcient 


We  cannot  forget  that  just  one  year  ago  we  were 
passing  through  the  darkest  hour  for  Christian 
civilization  in  all  Christian  history.  A  year  ago  this 
week  the  Germans  began  their  great  drive  for  the 
Channel  ports.  A  year  ago  this  week  Cough's  fifth 
army  broke  and  gave  v-ay,  and  for  some  awful 
hours  it  seemed  as  if  the  cause  of  the  Allies  were 
lost  and  Germany  would  go  far  toward  ruling  the 
world.  It  is  easy  for  men  to  say  today  that  they 
knew  everything  would  come  out  right  in  the  end. 
They  did  not  know  any  such  thing.  Read  Lloyd 
G  urge's  appeal  to  England  just  a  year  ago,  Clemen- 
ceau's  speeches,  and  President  Wilson's  summons 
to  this  country.  The  civilian  leaders  did  not  know 
it ;  the  military  authorities  did  not  know  it.  It  was 
a  dark  day,  and  the  dark  day  lasted  well  into  mid- 
summer. The  providential  factors  in  giving  victory 
to  the  Allied  forces  can  never  be  ignored.  Why  did 
not  the  Germans  take  the  French  ports  in  August, 
1914,  as  they  now  say  they  should  have  done?  How 
was  it  that  every  calculation  made  with  the  utmost 
precision  miscarried  at  the  first  battle  of  the  Mame? 
How  came  it  about  that  a  modest  military  professoi- 
suddenly  loomed  up  as  the  world's  greatest  strate- 
gist, commanding  at  one  time  ten  times  as  many 
men  as  Napoleon  ever  commanded  in  any  campaign. 
And  Napoleon  thought  he  himself  was  the  only 
general  in  the  world  who  could  coordinate  the  move- 


Making  Christianity  Efficient 


101 


ments  of  one  hundred  thousand  men,  while  Foch  did 
that  with  six  million.  Was  there  no  Providence  in 
the  almost  unexpected  arrival  of  the  Americans  at 
Chateau-Thierry  on  ♦he  very  day  when  Sir  Douglas 
Haig  was  driving  in  the  German  right  flank  and 
General  Petain  the  left  flank,  and  the  Americans 
pierced  the  center.  I  could  hardly  cite  a  parallel  in 
history  outside  the  Bible.  One  thinks  of  the  deliver- 
ance of  Israel  from  Egypt,  when  the  writer  says, 
"  The  Lord  looked  through  the  pillar  of  fire  and  of 
cloud,  and  took  off  the  chariot  wheels  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, that  they  drave  heavily."  One  thinks  of  the 
fall  of  Babylon  and  the  closing  words  of  the  chapter 
that  describes  it:  "In  that  night  was  Belshazzar, 
king  of  the  Chaldeans,  slain,  and  Darius  the  Mede 
took  the  kingdom."  One  thinks  of  the  deliverance 
of  Jerusalem  from  the  hosts  of  Sennacherib,  out- 
lined in  the  Forty-eighth  Psalm:  "The  kings  as- 
sembled, they  passed  by  together.  They  saw  it.  .  . 
Fear  took  hold  on  them,  and  pain,  as  of  a  woman  in 
travail."  The  Hebrews  could  say  of  such  deliver- 
ances, "  This  is  the  Lord's  doing;  it  is  marvelous  in 
our  eyes";  "Great  is  the  Lord,  and  greatly  to  be 
praised  in  the  city  of  our  God."  And  we  are  blind 
and  slow  of  heart  if,  looking  over  the  events  of  the 
last  year,  we  cannot  say  the  same  thing.  Truly  the 
Allied  victory  is  the  Lora's  doing  and  it  is  marvelous 
in  our  eyes. 


1  n 


Ill 


If 


192  Making  Christianity  Efficient 

The  Ground  op  Confidence 

The  defeat  of  Gei-many  has  given  rise  to  a  hun- 
dred questions  that  hardly  existed  three  months  ago. 
Then,  there  was  only  one  question,  How  to  win  the 
war?  Now  the  gravest  political,  social,  economic 
problems  seem  to  precipitate  on  us  all  at  once.  But 
may  we  not  say  as  David  said  to  Saul,  "  The  Lord 
who  delivered  me  out  of  the  paw  of  the  lion,  and 
out  of  the  paw  of  the  bear,  is  able  to  deliver  me 
from  the  hand  of  this  Philistine  "? 

God  is  not  an  absentee  proprietor.  He  is  in  the 
world  doing  mightily.  He  is  accessible  to  the  pray- 
ers of  men,  and  he  is  timing  all  things  in  the  inter- 
ests of  his  kingdom.  A  year  ago  we  '  ed  princi- 
pally in  resident  forces ;  today  we  trust  i  the  living 
God,  who  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 

In  passing  from  the  Gospels  to  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  we  come  into  a  new  v;orld.  We  begin  to 
understand  the  dim  forecasts  of  Jesus  that  after  ho 
had  ascended  to  the  Father  a  new  spiritual  energy 
would  move  men.  He  himself  on  his  throne  does 
what  he  could  not  do  whon  he  v.'as  here  on  the  earth. 
Peter  grasped  the  change  and  understood  what  was 
happening  when  he  told  the  rulers  regarding  the 
miracle  at  the  Beautiful  Gate  of  the  Temple,  "  Be  it 
known  to  you  all  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazarctli,  whom  ye  crucified,  whom  God  raised  iiora 


Making  Christianity  £fflc!«nt 


193 


the  dead,  even  in  him  doth  this  man  sti  d  before  you 
whole."  Jesus  was  a  living  presence  n  the  world. 
Instead  of  killing  him,  the  cross  had  liberated  him 
to  the  exercise  of  a  universal  power. 

The  statue  of  Phillips  Brooks  at  the  side  of 
Trinity  Church,  Boston,  is  not  the  most  successful 
of  St.  Gaudens'  works.    It  hardly  compare*  with  his 


Shaw  monument  on  Boston 
Lincoln  monument  in  Chica 
passed  away  before  he  had  j 
expression;  but  the  concept 
Gaudens  ever  entertained, 
stands  the  figure  of  Christ. 
Master  is  on  the  preacher's  sh  .uJder 
the  preacher  is  in  touch  with  f  hrist 


'nion  or  with  the 

he  greg      culptor 

his  idea  a*  «quate 

i  th    nobj*-^t  St. 

ind  the   pn  acher 

the  hand  of  the 

\ou  fe*I  .  lat 

F    is  bearing 


■ii-i-t 


the  message  of  Christ  and  Christ    s  \^  Ji  him  to 
bl.  -  message.    Is  not  that  tht    .  aol»e  mystery 

of  effcc      .  Christian  sen-i  f,  the 
of  triumph  in  the  work  of  rhrist? 

I  have  tried  to  point      t  so.   - 
our  comparative  ill-succt*  s,  but  is 
so  constant  and  pervasive  as  tl  i. 
work  without  Christ;  that  our  chu 
learned  the  secret  of  prayer  and  tH 
ing  men  that  comes  from  commu   ion  with  Christ 
and  his  cooperation  with  us  ? 

I  do  not  believe  that  organized  Christian  cy  is  by 
any  means  a  failure.    In  spite  of  laults  and  siiort- 

N 


I  of  joy  and 

rensons  of 

'■  any  reason 

i  we  do  our 

have  never 

wer  for  serv- 


'i 
?/-. 


w 


104 


Making  Chrir  danity  Efficient 


r 


I    !• 


comings  it  is  still  the  salt  of  the  earth.  If  the  gosix'l 
does  not  save  the  world  nothing  else  will.  But  the 
gospel  will  do  mii"h  more  for  men  than  it  ever  yet 
has  done,  when  t..ose  who  call  themselves  Christians 
vitally  respond  to  the  gospel,  when  we  realize  that 
the  gospel  contemplates  the  conquest  not  only  of  all 
nations  but  of  every  phase  of  human  life,  and  when 
the  living  Christ  cooperates  with  us  because  we  are 
in  touch  with  him. 

And  yet  I  seem  to  have  left  unsaid  the  greatest 
thing  I  had  to  say.  Is  it  not  the  spirit  of  willing 
sacrifice  for  the  cause  of  Christ  that  gives  preach- 
ing the  ispcl,  social  activity,  and  prayer  itself  the 
gi'eatest  efRciency?  I  feel  sometimes  the  violent 
contrast  between  the  comfort  and  self-indulgence  of 
much  of  our  modem  life  and  the  attitude  the  gospel 
seems  to  enjoin  toward  the  world.  It  was  not 
simply  the  teaching  of  Jesus  that  has  touched  the 
world,  but  the  Cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  Self-denial 
occupies  a  great  place  in  the  New  Testament.  The 
last  four  years  have  witnessed  unprecedented  sacri- 
fice on  the  pai-t  of  all  classes  of  men  for  the  cause  of 
native  land.  Is  there  anj-thing  that  would  so  touch 
and  move  the  returning  soldiers  and  the  forces  of 
our  new  civilization  as  for  Christian  men  and 
churches  everywhere  to  match  the  devotion  and  self- 
sacrifice  of  men  everywhere  for  the  cause  of  the 
nation  with  a  similar  devotion  and  self-sacrifice  for 


Making  Chriatiauity  Efficient 


I'j: 


the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  God?   Alfred  Noyes 
voices  the  true  desire : 

Make  firm,  O  God,  the  peace  our  dead  have  won. 
For  Folly  Hhakeu  the  tinsel  on  its  head, 

And  points  us  back  to  darkness  and  to  hell. 
Cackling,  "Beware  of  visions,"  while  oi-r  dead 

Still  cry,  "  It  was  for  visions  that  we  fell," 

They  never  knew  the  secret  game  of  power. 

All  that  this  earth  can  give  they  thrust  aside, 
ihey  crowded  all  their  youth  into  an  hour. 

And,  for  one  fleeting  dream  of  right,  they  died. 

Oh,  if  we  fail  them,  in  that  awful  trust. 

How  should  we  bear  those  voices  from  the  dust? 

G.  £j.  H. 


IV 


THE  LEADERSHIP  OF  MINISTERS  IN  SOCIAL 
RECONSTRUCTION 


WHEN  Buiyan's  Pilgrim  had  won  his  fight 
with  Apollyon,  and  had  passed  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  he 
came  with  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  a  little  eminence 
wnence  he  could  see  the  road  before  him.  It  seems 
to  me,  brethren,  that  this  is  a  parable  of  our  ovm 
experience.  We  too  have  passed  through  the 
shadow  of  war  and  of  death.  We  are  trying  to  see 
the  way  that  we  should  go.  And  we  have  come  to 
this  little  eminence  of  Newton  hill  that  we  may  get 
a  vision. 

It  must  be  a  vision  of  local  opportunities.  We  are 
so  inclined  to  think  that  we  are  handicapped  by  our 
narrow  environment,  when  the  opportunity  lies  all 
about  us  for  service.  Why  should  not  the  minister 
build  himself  into  community  life  as  the  physician 
does,  instead  of  looking  for  a  larger  field?  But  tho 
vision  must  broaden  out  beyond  the  local  horizon. 
It  is  as  important  that  we  should  not  be  provincial 
in  our  thinking  as  it  is  that  V'e  should  not  be  too 
196 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction       197 


soaring  in  our  ambitions.  Our  interests  should  in- 
clude the  whole  nation  and  all  classes  in  their  scope. 
It  must  also  be  a  world  vision.  For  more  than  a 
hundred  years  we  Baptists  have  been  thinking  in 
world  terms  through  foreign  missions.  Think  of 
what  it  meant  for  the  farmer  and  his  wife  in  some 
remote  community,  narrowed  in  life  by  their  isola- 
tion, to  reach  out  in  the  world  thinking  and  in  world 
sympathy,  and  so  to  become  citizens  of  the  world. 
By  as  much  as  we  have  amplified  our  modem  living 
over  that  which  they  enjoyed,  by  so  much  ought  we 
to  enlarge  our  interest  in  the  things  that  pertain 
to  the  kingdom  of  God. 
You  will  agree  with  me  when  I  say  that 


r^i^ 


i 


I.  The  Present  Situation  Constitutes  a 
Challenge 

It  is  a  challenge  to  faith  and  to  consecrated 
energy.  It  is  a  challenge  to  every  thinking  man, 
but  especially  to  every  minister  and  church.  It  faces 
us  and  demands  of  us  that  we  ask  ourselves  whether 
the  faith  in  God  and  In  human  nature  that  we 
preach  is  ours  as  a  real  experience.  Do  we  believe 
in  the  keeping  power  of  God,  and  can  we  look  up 
into  his  face  and  say,  "  Though  he  slay  me,  yet  will 
I  trust  him  "  ?  Ha"'e  we  such  a  faith  in  human  na- 
ture as  Jesus  had  when  he  was  willing  to  leave  the 


I! 

■i 


IP  I 


f\\ 


198      Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction 


cause  to  which  he  gave  his  life  to  the  inexperienced 
hands  of  his  disciples? 

Some  things  Are  clear  about  the  present  situation. 
In  spite  of  the  unrest  and  foreboding  of  the  times 
there  is  a  da^\^ling  hope  that  we  are  passing  out  of 
a  time  of  strife  into  a  time  of  conciliation  and  co- 
operation. 

Old  ideas  are  passing.  Individualism  has  been 
the  characteristic  philosophy  of  modem  times,  and 
its  dominant  note  has  been  the  demand  for  in- 
dividual rights.  The  Renaissance  was  an  expres- 
sion of  the  belief  that  man  has  a  right  to  use  his 
own  mind,  untrammeled  by  inherited  ideas.  The 
Reformation,  expressed  in  the  formulas  of  Luther 
and  echoed  by  Calvin  at  Geneva,  was  the  result  of  a 
conviction  that  man  has  a  right  to  approach  God  di- 
rectly without  the  mediation  of  priest  and  sacra- 
ment. The  American  Revolution  was  the  result  of 
accumulated  wrongs  borne  by  the  colonists  and  of 
accumulating  demands  for  colonial  rights.  The 
French  Revolution  was  precipitated  by  men  who 
had  caught  the  same  spirit  of  ind'^pendence,  and 
those  revolutions  have  been  repeated  in  Europe  until 
political  rights  are  well-nigh  universal.  But  a  new 
age  is  dawning,  in  which  the  word  obligation  is 
looming  larger  than  the  shibboleth  of  rights. 
America  has  led  the  way  in  recognizing  that  princi- 
ple in   international  relations.     Cuba,   China,  the 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction      199 

Philippines — these  mark  so  many  steps  in  the  at- 
tempt of  this  nation  to  do  justice  to  other  peoples. 
And  now  we  face  an  unparalleled  opportunity  to 
champion  this  principle  of  international  obligation 
through  the  proposed  League  of  Nations. 


The  New  Age  in  Industry 

Another  ancient  idea  with  which  we  have  been 
obsessed  is  that  class  conflict  is  inevitable.  It  is  at 
the  foundation  of  Marxian  socialism.  It  is  funda- 
mental in  the  scientific  doctrine  of  the  survival  of 
the  fittest.  But  it  is  giving  way  to  the  gospel  of 
comity  and  conciliation.  We  are  still  in  a  transi- 
tion time  in  industry,  and  the  age  of  conflict  is  by 
no  means  over,  but  there  are  many  indications  that 
a  better  day  is  dawning.  The  program  of  the  Brit- 
ish Labor  Party  published  a  year  ago  is  evidence  of 
the  progressive  thinking  of  industrial  leaders  in 
England.  Better  still  are  the  recommendations  and 
experiments  growing  out  of  the  investigations  of 
parliamentary  commissions  in  England  appointed 
to  investigate  the  issues  that  underlie  a  period  of 
reconstruction.  Over  there  they  are  appointing 
labor  representatives  on  committees  with  employers 
for  the  solution  of  the  problems  that  loom  ominously 
in  the  industrial  world.  Here  in  America  industrial 
democracy  does  not  seem  so  utterly  impracticable  as 


'    Oil 


200      Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction 


it  did  before  the  war.  Particularly  notable  is  the 
address  of  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr.,  at  Atlantic 
City  last  December,  when  he  asserted  as  a  result 
of  his  experience  with  the  coal  strike  in  Colorado 
that  he]  ceforth  we  must  recognize  the  principle 
that  there  are  four  parties  to  industry,  and  that  all 
must  be  represented  on  the  governing  boards.  But 
what  was  most  significant  about  his  address  was  the 
fact  as  reported,  that  when  the  speaker  had  read 
his  new  industrial  creed,  the  five  hundred  members 
of  the  convention  of  the  National  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce who  were  present  rose  in  a  body  and  cheered 
the  sentiments  that  were  expressed.  Capital  is  ex- 
periencing a  change  of  heart.  All  ever  this  country 
new  methods  are  being  adopted,  and  if  we  could  be- 
lieve that  labor  would  be  content  with  its  share  in- 
stead of  demanding  everything  in  imitation  of  capi- 
tal, we  might  soon  expect  a  golden  age  in  industry. 

Old  organizations  are  dissolving.  "Oh!  where 
are  kings  and  empires  now,  of  old  that  went  and 
came?"  Think  of  Austria,  that  once  proud  Haps- 
burg  empire  that  through  the  Middle  Ages  claimed 
the  hegemony  of  Europe?  Where  is  the  czar  of  the 
Russians,  who  ruled  autocratically  a  hundred  and 
eighty  million  persons,  over  an  area  that  stretched 
from  the  Baltic  to  the  Pacific  and  from  the  Arctic 
Ocean  to  the  mountains  of  Armenia?  Where  is  the 
Turkish  sultan  who  tried  to  arouse  the  Moslem  faith- 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction      201 


ful  all  over  the  East  to  a  holy  war  against  the  Allies? 
Where  too  is  that  blasphemous  Hohenzollem  who 
grudgingly  shared  the  dominion  of  the  world  with 
God,  but  demanded  for  Germany  a  larger  place  in 
the  sun?  Will  he  have  any  place  for  the  sole  of  his 
own  foot?  What  is  true  of  empires  is  in  a  measure 
true  of  the  old  political  parties.  Who  would  have 
dreamed  in  England  before  the  war  that  in  1919  the 
ancient  rivals  of  Liberals  and  Conservatives  would 
join  in  coalition,  with  a  Labor  Party  as  the  party  of 
opposition?  A  recent  movement  in  America  is 
worth  watching  as  tending  in  the  same  direction. 
Only  a  few  years  old,  the  Non-Partisan  League  of 
the  Northwest  has  completely  converted  to  its  doc- 
trines of  S^ate  socialism  the  farmers  of  North 
Dakota,  came  near  electing  the  last  governor  of 
Minnesota,  and  threatens  to  extend  through  the 
mountain  States.  State  labor  parties  are  forming, 
and  it  is  even  possible  that  the  industrial  worker  of 
the  East  may  join  hands  with  the  farmer  of  the 
West  in  an  attempt  to  introduce  a  new  era  of  gov- 
ernment in  this  land.  Surely  we  are  in  a  time  of 
instability  of  thought  and  action. 

Old  ideals  are  perishing.  America  has  had  the 
reputation  of  worshiping  the  "  almighty  dollar,"  and 
we  have  as  a  nation  given  ourselves  without  stint 
to  the  development  of  the  natural  resources  of  this 
contir?nt.     But  the  war  has  revealed  that  under- 


r  i" 


I>-) 


202      Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction 

neath  we  are  idealistic.  What  a  revelation  it  is  to 
the  world  of  the  power  of  idealism  that  this  nation 
should  have  gone  into  this  war  with  the  main  pur- 
pose of  saving  the  liberties  of  the  world,  that  we 
should  have  sent  our  boys  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands across  three  thousand  miles  of  sea  that  the 
world  might  be  made  safe  for  democracy,  and  that 
thousands  of  men  and  women  should  have  given  up 
their  personal  interests  to  serve  the  government  in 
a  time  of  need.  To  the  men  whose  souls  were  bared 
in  the  white  light  of  battle  material  things  are  no 
longer  the  ultimate.  They  have  faced  eternity,  and 
they  know  that  money  and  power  and  even  life  itself 
are  of  lesser  worth  than  duty  and  right  and  justice. 


The  Challenge  to  the  Church 

There  is  encouragement  in  all  this  for  the  minis- 
ter, who  has  preached  just  these  doctrines.  At  the 
same  time  the  situation  is  a  challenge  to  lead  the 
new  spirit  to  find  expression  in  social  cooperation 
and  service. 

But  there  are  factors  in  the  situation  that  give  us 
pause.  First  of  all,  the  churches  are  consei'\'ativo  in 
their  methods.  The  ministers  are  at  least  partly  to 
blame  for  this.  It  is  trite  to  say  that  a  missionary 
pastor  makes  a  missionary  church,  but  .„  is  as  true 
that  a  resourceful  and  wise  pastor  can  do  much  to 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction      20.'^ 

mold  the  processes  of  the  church.  The  churches  are 
sell-centered,  except  in  the  field  of  missions.  Is  it 
not  rather  remarkable  that  a  denomination  that  was 
a  pioneer  in  such  a  radical  movement  as  foreign 
missions  a  hundred  years  ago  should  be  contented 
to  move  at  such  a  snail's  pace  in  the  broader  activi- 
ties of  the  day?  I  do  not  like  to  make  any  invidious 
comparisons,  but  it  is  disconcerting  when  a  sister 
denomination  sets  aside  in  its  program  several  mil- 
lion dollars  for  the  development  of  (ral  church 
leadership,  while  we  Baptists  are  content  to  make  a 
few  experiments.  Then  too  our  churches  are  ultra- 
independent.  We  have  not  yet  learned  to  work  to- 
gether as  well  as  we  work  separately.  Yet  coopera- 
tion is  the  watchword  of  the  new  day. 

In  the  second  place,  the  people  outside  the  churches 
are  critical  and  distrustful  of  them.  This  is  es- 
pecially true  of  the  working  people.  A  recent  arti- 
cle in  one  of  our  radical  weeklies  in  discussing  a 
possible  substitute  for  the  church  denounced  the 
investment  of  millions  of  money  in  ecclesiastical 
plants  and  their  maintenance,  especially  when  the 
buildings  are  closed  most  of  the  week,  and  the  writer 
declared  that  the  working  people  hated  this,  which 
was  a  criminal  waste  from  their  point  of  view.  Now 
we  believe  in  the  church,  and  we  believe  that  her 
faults  are  fewer  than  her  strong  points,  yet  we  can- 
not afford  to  overlook  this  hostility. 


>    II 

'''  '  1 


204      Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction 

Worst  of  all,  there  are  thousands  of  persons  today 
who  are  so  extreme  in  their  radicalism  that  they 
would  sweep  away,  not  only  the  church,  but  the 
whole  social  order.  Bolshevism  has  caught  the  Rus- 
sian people  in  its  grasp.  It  is  contending  stub- 
bornly for  the  control  of  Germany.  It  threatens 
western  Europe.  Are  we  sure  that  it  is  not  going 
to  fight  for  a  foothold  in  America?  Madame  Bresh- 
kovsky,  who  has  come  to  America  to  explain  Rus- 
sian  socialism,  says  that  Bolshevism  is  not  a  theory 
but  a  behavior.  I  think  we  can  define  it  as  an  atti- 
tude toward  the  existing  ord-^r  of  society  that  is 
destructively  critical,  and  hopelessly  revolutionary. 
It  is  a  danger  signal.  It  adds  to  the  number  of 
factors  in  the  present  situation  that  are  disconcert- 
ing.   It  intensifies  the  challenge. 

I  come  nov,'  to  the  main  point  of  this  discussion  : 


II.  What  Shall  We  Do  With  the  Challenge? 

We  cannot  escape  from  it  if  we  would,  and  we  can- 
not meet  it  by  keeping  on  in  the  beaten  paths.  We 
may  not  leave  our  age-long  task  of  ministering  to 
the  purely  spiritual  need^  of  the  people.  Those  are 
primary.  But  personal  religion  must  relate  itself 
to  the  social  situation,  and  must  translate  itself  into 
action.  Ministers  must  face  honestly  the  question 
wliether  they  are  custodians  of  private  interests, 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction      20r 


chaplains  of  ecclesiastical  clubs,  or  prophets  of  the 
Most  High.  There  are  tasks  that  lie  upon  us  that 
would  weigh  us  down  did  we  not  know  that  the  re- 
sources of  divine  strength  are  ours.  What  are  the 
tasks?  Bishop  McDowell  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  has  discerningly  said  that  we  must  re- 
make the  mind  of  the  world,  we  must  remake  the 
ideals  of  the  world,  and  we  must  remake  the  faith 
of  the  world. 

As  I  see  it,  we  have  the  great  task  of  educating 
the  churches  to  appreciate  the  necessity  of  the  social 
application  of  Christianity  for  the  solution  of  the 
grave  questions  that  have  been  complicated  and  in- 
tensified by  the  war.  This  we  cannot  do  until  we 
are  aware  of  them  ourselves.  It  is  extremely  im- 
portant that  we  should  not  mislead  those  who  come 
under  our  instruction.  To  avoia  this  we  must  study 
to  understand. 

We  are  not  alone  educators  of  the  church  mind. 
We  are  also,  and  even  more,  interpreters  of  the 
divine  mind.  It  is  ours  to  interpret  the  divine  pur- 
pose and  will  for  this  weary  world.  Many  persons 
have  been  so  storm-swept  by  the  war  that  they  have 
been  driven  from  their  spiritual  moorings.  They 
are  adrift  on  the  sea  of  thought.  They  need  an 
anchor  for  the  soul.  They  want  a  God  who  is  ade- 
quate for  present  need  as  well  as  for  the  life  beyond. 
It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  put  into  words  the  thought 


!^ 


{' 


206      Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction 


of  the  providence  of  God.  We  tro  have  our  per- 
plexities to  understand  how  a  God  that  is  in  the 
world  working  out  an  orderly  purpose  can  be  both 
great  and  good  and  let  such  a  cataclysm  take  place. 
We  may  have  our  explanations  theological,  but  they 
will  not  suflice  for  the  common  need.  It  is  our 
supreme  business  to  interpret  God  in  terms  of  the 
real  need  of  the  present  day.  To  do  it  adequately 
we  must  have  a  social  as  well  as  a  personal  re- 
ligion and  theologj'. 

Beyond  these  we  are  messengers  of  a  moral  im- 
perative that  we  cannot  put  aside.  There  is  a  call 
to  a  crusade  of  peace  as  there  has  been  a  call  to  a 
righteous  war.  It  is  for  us  to  summon  men  and 
women  as  prophets  of  old  have  sent  forth  their  call. 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux  was  able  by  his  eloquence  so 
to  sway  crowds  that  women  hid  their  husbands  and 
sons  for  fear  they  would  take  the  cross  of  the  Cru- 
sader. Two  hundred  years  ago  Jonathan  Edwards 
so  wrought  upon  the  minds  of  men  that  he  seemed 
literally  to  shake  them  over  the  fiery  abyss,  and 
they  cried  out  in  their  agony  of  fear.  Has  God  so 
gripped  us  that  we  can  lay  our  hand  upon  this  one 
and  that,  and  summon  them  so  persuasively  to  this 
day's  crusade  that  they  cannot  disobey?  This  is 
an  evangelism  that  is  no  less  needed  than  the  older 
type.  It  too  calls  for  prayer  and  consecration  on 
the  part  of  the  minirster,  as  it  calls  for  sacrifice  and 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction      207 

service  on  the  part  of  the  layman.    We  neglect  it 
at  our  peril. 

We  are  becoming  increasingly  conscious  of  yet 
another  task.  It  is  our  privilege  to  champion  the 
cause  of  internationalism,  as  represented  in  a 
league  of  nations.  It  is  our  opportunity  to  stand  for 
justice  and  generosity  in  industrial  relations.  But 
it  is  our  constant  and  immediate  business  to  enrich 
and  ennoble  our  community  life.  What  other  or- 
ganization than  the  church  can  stimulate  the  best 
motives  and  uphold  so  steadily  the  highest  stand- 
ards? The  community  is  the  base  of  our  national 
life.  The  cities  depend  on  the  rural  communities 
for  new  vigor.  We  must  keep  the  sources  pure. 
This  community  life  cannot  be  what  it  ought  unless 
all  the  people  get  together.  Stratification  and  segre- 
gation are  twin  evils  that  are  characteristic  of  our 
community  life.  It  is  easy  to  draw  a  horizontal  line 
between  classes.  It  is  much  too  easy  to  gather  into 
small  groups — into  clubs  and  cliques  and  denomina- 
tional churches — but  fail  to  discover  any  unit  of 
community  life. 


A  Social  Center 

It  is  very  desirable  that  every  community  should 
have  its  social  center.  The  schoolhouse  is  that 
natural  center,  for  it  belongs  to  the  public  as  a 
whole.    In  such  a  centoi-  there  should  be  accommo- 


'  1. 1' 


208      Leadership  in  Socistl  Reconitraction 

dations  for  voluntary  classes,  clubs,  and  a  commu- 
nity forum.  It  should  be  a  center  and  stimulus  for 
a  community  campaign  for  social  betterment,  and 
in  this  campaign  church  people  should  be  the  lead- 
ers, and  the  church  as  an  organisation  should  be 
behind  it.  Such  a  campaign  must  include  many 
things.  We  congratulate  ourselves  that  we  have 
won  a  great  victory  for  temperance,  but  when 
twenty-seven  Massachusetts  towns  within  this  last 
month  have  voted  for  license  as  a  protest  against 
prohibition,  it  is  evident  that  we  shall  have  still  to 
secure  the  sanction  of  public  opinion.  The  question 
of  vice  is  no  less  important.  Do  you  know  that 
divisions  of  the  German  army  numbering  several 
hundred  thousand  men  were  incapacitated  from 
fighting  because  of  venereal  disease  at  a  time  when 
Germany  needed  every  man  she  could  muster  on  the 
westciTt  front?  The  s«v  problem  is  enormously  im- 
portant, and  sex  education  is  a  task  to  which  we 
must  set  ourselves  here  in  the  United  States.  We 
have  health  problems  to  solve  in  country  as  well  .r. 
in  town.  We  should  give  our  attention  to  recrea- 
tion. The  poor  we  have  ever  with  us,  but  poverty 
is  not  incurable.  Americanization  of  immigrants  is 
a  problem  that  we  cannot  neglect,  if  we  would  in- 
sure the  future  of  American  institutions. 

We  have  been  very  slow  to  cope  with  the  immi- 
grant pioblom.    We  have  permitted  tiic  gi'ov/th  of 


Leadership  in  SocLU  Beconitruction      20<.) 

slums  and  therewith  an  alarming  amount  of  social 
discontent.  Leon  Trotzky  came  from  Russia  to  this 
country,  and  settled  in  the  Jewish  ghetto  in  New 
York  City.  Like  so  many  Europeans  who  come  to 
this  country  expecting  to  find  an  elysium,  he  and  his 
companions  were  disillusioned.  They  came  to  hate 
the  capitalistic  system  which,  as  they  believed,  was 
losponsible  for  the  misery  of  the  sweat-shop  and  the 
slum,  and  they  went  back  to  Russia  after  the  revolu- 
tion broke  to  build  a  new  social  system.  The  result 
is  Bolshevism.  Can  this  nation  avoid  altogether 
the  blame  for  the  suffering  of  Russia  and  the  threat 
of  communism  that  darkens  the  prospects  of  all 
Europe? 

It  is  a  huge  task  that  confronts  us,  but  greater 
was  the  task  of  the  Master.  As  he  drew  together 
men  and  women  of  all  sorts  to  aid  him  in  his  minis- 
try, so  it  lies  with  us  to  enlist  those  who  are  in  our 
churches  and  those  who  are  on  the  outside  in  the 
building  of  the  Christian  social  order.  Cooperation 
we  must  have  among  ourselves  and  with  other  de- 
nominations. Can  we  consistently  talk  about  a 
league  of  nations  unless  we  can  have  a  league  of 
churches  in  spirit  and  sei-vice,  if  not  organically? 
We  need  to  make  wide  investigations  and  to  under- 
take large  enterprises.  Think  of  the  problem  of 
rural  life.  There  is  the  down-town  problem  in  our 
cities.    There  is  the  question  of  the  responsibility 

0 


210      Leadership  in  Social  Beconstruction 


of  the  suburban  church.  I  have  long  wondered  why 
somo  ;io  has  not  given  us  a  book  on  the  suburban 
cj.urd).  Wc  h.i"e  discussed  the  rural  and  the  urban 
p  )l)kms,  but  has  not  the  church  in  the  suburbs  of 
thj  ciijos  nn  unequaled  opportunity  to  make  Its  con- 
tribution to  a  solution  of  the  difficulties  of  both 
country  and  city?  In  many  sections  it  is  the  subur- 
ban people  that  have  the  greatest  wealth,  leisure, 
and  capacity  for  large  affairs.  Then  besides  these 
local  questions  there  is  the  question  of  the  relation 
of  the  church  to  industry  and  the  relation  of  the 
church  to  community  welfare  generally. 

These  are  the  avenues  by  which  the  modem  pil- 
fe/im  must  make  his  way  to  the  heavenly  city.  Upon 
him  is  laid  the  Master's  charge  to  occupy  until  he 
comes.  The  principles  that  should  control  are  those 
that  he  has  laid  down.  There  is  the  principle  of 
sacrifice,  that  has  been  so  nobly  manifested  in  the 
heroism  of  our  soldiers  in  France.  There  is  the 
SDirit  of  service,  that  has  shone  so  gloriously  in  the 
devotion  of  surgeons  and  nurses  behind  the  battle 
lines.  And  there  is  the  principle  of  cooperation,  ex- 
emplified in  the  conciliatory  efforts  of  President 
Wilson  to  bring  about  a  peace  union  among  the 
nations  of  the  world. 

Many,  many  centuries  ago  an  old  man  was  climb- 
ing a  mountain  on  the  edge  of  the  Arabian  desert. 
He  skirted  the  jutting  rocks  and  scrambled  over  the 


Leadership  in  Social  Reconstruction      211 


slippery  ledges  until  he  reached  a  point  whence  he 
could  look  out  over  the  land  that  stretched  away  to 
the  Mediterranean.  It  was  a  land  promised  to  his 
race.  As  he  stood  there  he  thought  of  the  experi- 
ences of  the  past.  He  recalled  the  night  when  he 
wrapped  his  shepherd's  cloak  about  him  and  crept 
for  shelter  from  the  wind  behind  a  great  rock  in  a 
weary  land.  He  remembered  the  glow  of  the  burn- 
ing bush  and  the  call  that  came  to  him  to  free  his 
people.  He  remembered  the  months  of  struggle  be- 
fore Pharaoh  let  the  people  go.  He  remembered  the 
forty  years  of  wandering  in  the  wilderness.  All 
that  was  behind  him  now.  And  before  him  was  the 
promised  land.  Moses  could  not  see  the  wide- 
spreading  kingdom  of  David  that  was  to  be,  nor  the 
glories  of  Solomon,  nor  the  triumphs  of  the  Macca- 
bees. He  could  not  visualize  Jesus  as  he  went  about 
his  work  of  ministry  through  Galilee  and  Judea. 
But  he  had  faith  to  believe  that  God  would  make  of 
Israel  a  great  and  a  happy  people.  Can  we  from 
our  vantage-point  of  the  twentieth  century  catch  a 
vision  of  what  tV'  arth  shall  be  when  its  kingdoms 
and  its  commc      ijUths  become  in  very  truth  the 

kingdom  of  our  God? 

H.  K.  R. 


i  j 


mi 


i'% 


I 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  LEADERSHIP 
IN  THOUGHT 

THE  Bible  entered  into  the  life  of  the  world 
as  a  new  intellectual  force.  Not  by  way  of 
the  schools  or  through  the  favor  of  the  schol- 
ars, not  in  the  realm  of  the  speculative,  but  as  a 
living  force  functioning  in  the  spiritual  realm  in  the 
common  life.  It  brought  men  face  to  face  with  the 
realities  of  life  with  a  new  insight  springing  out  of 
a  deeper  experience,  with  ai.  illumination  which 
came  from  a  source  they  could  call  nothing  less  than 
the  Holy  Spirit.  It  compelled  men  to  think  on  the 
problems  of  life  and  brought  the  direction  needed 
for  that  task.  The  glory  of  Greece  was  that  by 
sheer  force  of  intellect  she  had  brought  everything 
under  examination  for  thorough  analysis,  but  even 
the  thinking  of  Greece  had  to  subject  itself  to  the 
new  leadership,  and  philosophy  became  the  hand- 
maiden of  theology.  Everywhere  the  Bible  has 
gone  it  has  stirred  the  minds  of  men  and  faced  them 
toward  the  great  objectives  of  human  existence. 
Wherever  any  order  of  society  has  fallen  under  the 
212 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      213 


dominance  of  autocracy,  whether  it  be  political,  or 
ecclesiastical,  or  scholastic,  it  has  sought  in  one 
way  or  another  to  keep  the  Bible  from  the  people, 
for  such  a  system  is  imperiled  when  men  think 
under  the  leadership  of  the  Bible.  When  the  demo- 
cratic ferment  appeared  it  was  perfectly  logical 
that  the  movement  should  turn  t^  the  Bible  for 
leadership  and  under  that  leadership  create  our 
modem  world. 

That  appeal  to  the  Scripture  at  once  involved  the 
question  of  interpretation.  How  was  the  Bible  to 
function  in  leadership?  The  repudiation  of  the 
definitions  imposed  upon  the  book  by  ecclesiastical 
organizations  and  the  assertion  of  the  right  to  go 
directly  to  the  Scriptures  and  inquire  as  to  their 
meaning  involved  the  discovery  and  the  application 
of  the  right  methods  of  interpretation.  To  this  task 
has  been  given  one  of  the  noblest  services  of  which 
the  church  has  any  record.  For  thoroughness  of 
equipment,  diligence  in  application,  perseverance  in 
reexamination,  it  is  beyond  praise.  To  many  seeing 
it  only  in  part  and  only  at  some  stage  of  develop- 
ment, it  has  presented  an  object  no^vof  ridicule  and 
now  of  fear,  but  it  has  persevered  in  its  task  with 
the  result  that  the  Bible  is  better  known  today  than 
ever  before  and  the  erudition  of  multitudes  of  spe- 
cialists is  at  hand  in  convenient  and  usable  form  for 
any  diligent  and  faithful  pastor  or  Sunday  School 


>i  I 


'^ii 


iii4      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 

worker.  It  is  possible  therefore  to  place  the  Bible 
in  a  more  telling  place  of  leadership  than  in  any 
previous  age. 

A  Favorablj  Situation 

But  leadership  implies  a  definite  situation,  a 
starting-point  and  an  objective.  It  means  progress. 
Our  starting-point  is  the  world  of  action  of  our  day. 
Our  objective  is  the  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 
These  two  points  determine  the  line  of  progress. 

When  we  face  this  world  in  action  we  are  at  once 
confronted  with  Democracy.  The  leadership  we 
seek  to  win  is  the  creating,  inspiring,  and  guiding 
of  public  opinion.  It  is  not  the  construction  of  a 
philosophy  for  the  few,  but  giving  a  point  of  view 
to,  and  quickening  the  conscience  of,  the  many.  The 
keyword  for  democracy  is  mutuality,  mutual  regard, 
mutual  self-restraint,  mutual  aid.  It  is  social  and 
industrial  idealism.  Then  we  find  we  face  a  situa- 
tion which  calls  for  the  greatest  resources,  for  it 
involves  the  empowering  of  human  nature  to  realize 
these  ideals.  But  this  is  the  very  field  in  which  we 
feel  that  the  Bible  is  the  one  book  of  leadership. 
Here  it  can  come  into  its  own. 

There  is  another  advantage  in  the  situation.  The 
whole  world  is  stirred  into  thinking.  We  do  not 
face  the  difficulty  of  provoking  men  to  thought. 
We  have  before  us  a  world  which  has  been  agitated 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      215 


by  great  events  which  have  quickened  even  the 
slothful  minds  with  the  most  profound  problems. 
Men  want  leadership.  They  are  anxious  for  the 
solution  of  their  problems.  They  are  thinking  in 
terms  of  democracy,  service,  freedom,  idealism,  and 
considering  these  things  in  the  light  of  their  broad- 
est relations.  But  above  all,  men  are  today  recog- 
nizing that  the  fundamental  questions  are  moral 
and  that  the  thought  of  today  must  stand  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.  The  Galilean  has  been 
seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 

As  we  face  our  starting-point  in  this  world  in  ac- 
tion we  are  to  remember  that  leadersh'p  in  thought 
is  conditioned  by  the  rules  of  thought.  It  is  not 
something  which  can  be  dictated  by  any  outward 
authority,  nor  conjured  by  the  repetition  of  slo- 
gans. It  must  be  enlightened  and  stimulated  by 
the  truth.  It  must  deal  with  reality.  Our  task, 
then,  is  along  one  line  only,  and  that  is  "  the  mani- 
festation of  the  truth  to  every  conscience." 


i| 


■.=! 


M  = 


The  Unity  of  the  Book 

I.  To  bring  the  Bible  into  its  rightful  place  of 
leadership  we  must  show  the  unity  of  the  bor'c. 

The  last  phase  of  the  great  war  made  very  clear 
the  necessity  of  unity  of  command,  the  correlation 
of  all  parts  for  a  definite  objective.     This  princi- 


216      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


1 


pie  is  equally  necessary  in  our  problem.  The  scan- 
dal which  arouses  justifiable  suspicion  is  that 
anything  can  be  proved  from  the  Bible.  The  most 
diverse  and  contradictory  beliefs,  so  contradictory 
that  they  are  provocative  of  strife  which  divides 
the  church  itself,  are  presented  as  representing  the 
teachings  of  this  book.  But  if  the  Bible  is  to  per- 
form the  task  of  guiding  the  present  democratic 
movement,  there  must  be  that  unity  which  will  give 
definiteness  and  present  an  unmistakable  and  ines- 
capable message. 

The  first  thing  to  recognize  is  the  complexity  and 
diversity  of  the  Bible.  It  is  a  library  and  not  a 
book.  It  differs  widely  in  both  literary  form  and 
quality  and  therefore  requires  variety  of  treatment 
in  its  interpretation.  It  contains  the  literature  of 
a  race  passing  through  the  successive  epochs  of  its 
history  as  these  develop  through  a  long  period  of 
time  in  many  forms  of  historical  situations.  Men 
of  the  most  diverse  sorts  face  distinct  and  dissimi- 
lar situations  with  distinct  and  dissimilar  problems. 
Earlier  prophecy  threatens  the  nation  with  destruc- 
tion, later  prophecy  comforts  the  nation  with  the 
assurance  of  a  glorious  future.  More  than  that, 
there  is  the  definite  line  of  cleavage  dividing  the 
book  into  two  parts,  the  revelations  of  two  dispen- 
sations, with  the  most  divergent  characteristics,  one 
to  bring  into  bondage,  the  other  into  liberty. 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      217 


This  complexity  is  to  be  fully  recognized  and  not 
concealed  by  forced  harmonization.  Whatever  the 
unity,  it  is  one  which  has  in  it  a  place  for  this  com- 
plexity. One  thing  at  once  becomes  unmistakably 
clear  and  that  is  that  the  unity  is  not  to  be  found  in 
externals.  It  is  not  in  the  legislation.  There  is  a 
tradition  that  a  cei-tain  rabbi  burned  many  barrels 
of  oil  endeavoring  to  reconcile  the  legislation  of 
Ezekiel  with  that  of  the  Pentateuch.  This  is  a  rab- 
binic method  of  expressing  an  honest,  if  heretical, 
opinion,  that  it  cannot  be  done.  If  the  attempt  is 
made  to  discover  unity  along  this  line  it  will  prove 
futile.  And  so  it  will  be  with  any  of  the  externals 
in  which  religion  finds  its  temporary  form  of  ex- 
pression. 

The  recognition  of  a  complexity  which  is  so  de- 
cisive that  unity  cannot  be  discovered  in  legislation 
or  any  externals  is  a  distinct  gain.  It  immediately 
eliminates  that  pernicious  use  of  isolated  texts  by 
which  anything  and  everything  is  proven.  Trained 
under  such  use  of  the  Bible,  men  display,  to  quote 
Dean  Hodges  in  another  connection,  "  an  ignorance 
which  is  not  natural  but  acquired." 

Further,  it  carries  the  question  over  into  another 
realm  and  compels  us  to  seek  the  unity  at  a  deeper 
level  in  a  more  comprehensive  fact.  The  unity  of 
the  Bible  is  organic.  It  is  the  unity  of  life,  "  first 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  grain  in  the 


218      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


ear."  Such  unity  is  always  characterized  by  va- 
riety, complexity,  and  even  diversity.  The  artificial 
is  to  be  recognized  by  the  perfection  of  undeviating 
exactitude  in  detail,  but  life  has  variety,  richness, 
and  extensivcness  of  variety.  There  is,  for  exam- 
ple, the  unity  of  the  Colorado  River.  How  varied 
are  its  parts!  There  are  numerous  side  caiions 
coming  from  many  sources  bringing  their  contribu- 
tions to  the  main  stream.  We  see  here  tumultuous 
rapids,  and  there  deep  silent  currents,  and  again 
roaring  falls.  Now  it  flows  gently  and  then  drives 
with  tremendous  force  through  some  obstruction. 
The  course  is  never  in  a  straight  line.  Now  it  flows 
east,  now  west.  How  diverse  are  its  units.  But 
when  one  stands  above  and  views  the  whole  system 
of  valleys  and  the  great  line  of  the  increasing  main 
stream,  the  unity  becomes  clear.  It  is  that  great 
drive  through  the  resisting  strata  to  the  sea,  for 
though  it  flow  now  eastward  and  now  westward,  it 
is  e-  r  flowing  southward  to  the  sea.  And  even  a 
box  caiion  which  now  leads  nowhere  and  has  no 
stream,  fits  into  this  unity  of  life. 

"  The  Bible  is  not  level,  like  a  desert,  it  is  full  of 
hills  and  valleys.  It  is  not  like  an  enclosed  garden, 
with  trim  beds  of  growing  things,  carefully  weeded 
and  intersected  by  neatly  graveled  walks;  it  is  like 
a  wide  expanse  of  country,  with  farms,  but  also 
with  forests  in  which  there  is  thick  undergrowth 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      210 

and  trunks  of  fallen  trees;  with  land  partly  fertile 
and  partly  infertile ;  with  good  roads  between  popu- 
lated town  and  town,  but  also  with  abandoned  roads 
still  marked  with  old  deep  ruts  but  now  leading  no- 
where. The  Bible  is  not  an  account  of  a  series  of 
monotonous  centuries  like  the  annals  of  a  stagnant 
people;  it  is  a  record  of  progi-ess,  out  of  ignorance 
into  better  knowledge,  from  lower  to  higher  ideals. 
It  is  as  interesting  as  a  river,  on  its  varied  way 
from  the  mountain  to  the  sea."  (Hodges,  "  How  to 
Know  the  Bible,"  pp.  9,  10.) 


God's  Activity  in  History 

The  unity  of  the  Bible  is  in  the  activity  of  God  in 
history.  There  is  presented  a  great  line  of  action 
which  is  luminously  and  dramatically  set  forth.  It 
is  God  at  work  in  the  history  of  a  chosen  people. 
There  we  see  them  led  through  the  successi/e 
epochs  of  their  history  as  that  stood  related  to  the 
great  civilizations  and  forces  of  the  ancient  world, 
not  a  thing  apart,  but  the  supreme  fact  in  that 
world  history.  There  is  unfolded  for  us  a  history, 
political,  economic,  moral,  religious,  for  all  these 
factors  enter  into  tlie  complexity  of  life.  It  is  the 
story  of  God  bringing  righteousness  to  pass  in  the 
affairs  of  men.  And  all  this  finds  its  proper  climax 
and  interpretation  in  Jesus  Christ.    What  Paul  says 


220      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


of  creation  in  general  is  emphatically  true  of  Scrip- 
ture, "  In  him  all  things  consist."  There  is  the  true 
unity  of  Scripture.  The  highest  thing  that  can  pos- 
sibly be  said  of  the  Bible  is  Jesus'  word,  "  These  arc 
they  which  testify  of  me."  It  is  in  Christ  that  the 
whole  line  of  action  becomes  plain.  The  moral 
significance  and  purposes  here  rise  to  that  fulness 
and  clearness  of  meaning  which  illuminates  all  the 
past  and  shows  what  was  latent  in  it.  In  him  the 
temporary  suffers  the  annulment  of  the  obsolete  and 
the  permanent  is  vindicated. 

Here,  then,  is  the  unity:  that  long  line  of  pro- 
gressive, creative  moral  activity  which  in  Jesus 
finds  its  fulness  of  expression.  "  It  is  the  unity," 
to  quote  Peake,  "of  a  definite  journey  toward  a 
definite  goal."  Here  is  a  oneness  which  is  vital, 
dynamic,  and  therefore  the  very  sort  of  unity  with 
which  we  can  bring  this  book  into  a  challenging 
place  and  on  the  basis  of  this^  present  a  standard 
with  which  the  world's  thinking  must  take  account. 
Thereby  we  can  show  that  the  Bible  means  some- 
thing clear  and  unmistakable  which  is  able  to  give 
direction  along  a  path  of  progress. 

The  recognition  of  this  unity  demands  of  us  a 
comprehensive  view  of  the  Bible  and  the  handling 
of  its  details  in  their  relation  to  that  which  is  cen- 
tral. That  comes  at  a  great  price,  yet  it  must  be 
had  if  the  Bible  is  to  bring  something  clear,  con- 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      221 

sistent,  and  challenging  to  this  world.  Our  method 
of  employing  texts  does  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
minister  to  this  conception  of  the  Bible.  Using  them 
merely  to  cast  a  sacred  nimbus  about  our  fancies,  or 
because  isolated  from  their  context  they  suggest 
some  attractive  notion,  will  not  place  Scripture  in 
its  rightful  supremacy. 

We  only  nibble  at  the  Bible.  With  the  indiscrimi- 
nation of  uncritical  fancy  or  in  the  hastiness  of 
hurried  preparation  we  ratch  at  this  thing  or  that ; 
now  a  bit  from  the  pessimistic  Ecclesiastes  who  be- 
lieved there  was  nothing  new  under  the  heavens; 
and  then  a  portion  from  the  optimistic  Paul  who  be- 
lieved that  all  things  had  become  new;  now  a  line 
from  the  priestly  Leviticus,  and  then  one  from  the 
antipriestly,  anti-Levitical  Hebrews;  now  an  idea 
from  the  narrowly  Jewish  Esther,  and  then  a  text 
from  the  Sermon  on  the  Jfount.  And  to  each  is 
given  the  same  evaluation.  Such  a  leveling  of 
heterogeneous  material  is  eventually  at  the  expense 
of  the  higher.  And  by  this  method  perspective  is 
destroyed  and  the  salient  thing,  to  which  all  parts 
minister,  is  lost.  That  is  not  leadership.  The 
need  is  of  a  comprehensive  view  which  preserves 
perspective  and  therefore  gives  the  greater  force 
to  the  essential  principles.  Only  in  this  way  can  the 
Bible  as  a  progressive,  unified  interpretation  of  God 
in  history  make  its  distinct  impression. 


;H:I 


!ifi 


!'  » 


222      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


Reality  and  Solidity 

II.  Then  we  must  show  the  reality  and  validity  of 
the  Bible  for  the  affairs  of  this  world.  The  charge 
of  other-worldliness,  when  it  means  aloofness  and 
indifference  as  to  the  affairs  of  this  world,  when  it 
is  lack  of  contact  with  reality,  is  a  charge  which  if 
sustained  means  loss  of  leadership.  We  have  to 
present  something  which  is  practicable,  which  is 
workable,  which  has  reality. 

We  have  said  that  the  unity  of  the  Bible  is  found 
in  the  action  of  God  in  history.  So  also  is  its  reality. 
In  the  Bible  we  view  the  very  stages  of  God's  opera- 
tions. There  we  see  him  at  work  in  that  creative 
activity  whereby  he  shapes  the  affairs  of  men  to 
the  ends  of  righteousness.  Here,  then,  we  are  deal- 
ing with  reality,  a  personal  God  operating  in  the 
life  of  this  world.  And  this  is  demonstrated  in  the 
Bible  not  as  something  which  is  haphazard,  spas- 
modic, or  limited  in  scope,  but  as  a  constant,  nay, 
the  constant  and  eternal  factor.  It  is  action  which 
accomplishes  its  ends ;  it  leads  from  lower  to  higher ; 
it  is  a  record  of  progress. 

A  comprehensive  view  of  the  Bible  exhibits  the 
action  of  God  through  thp  successive  epochs  of  a 
national  history.  The  action  has  wide  diversity.  It 
deals  with  the  individual  and  with  the  social  group. 
Its   interests   are   political,    economic,    moral,    re- 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


iigious.  All  takes  place  with  sufTicicnt  scope  to 
bring  in  international  and  even  universal  considera- 
tions. Action  of  such  scope  and  variety  proving  to 
be  morally  creative  and  morally  progressive  has 
reality  and  validity.  It  is  not  a  .speculr.tive  matter 
to  be  quibbled  over,  but  introduces  inescapablo 
standards  of  judgment  in  the  light  of  which  today's 
real  thinking  should  be  done. 

The  action  of  those  ancient  days  must  be  related 
to  God's  action  today.  Warfield  has  written  a  book 
to  prove  that  miracles  ceased  with  the  Apostolic 
Age.  If  that  be  so,  what  vital  interest  has  today 
with  that  age,  which  by  his  argument,  is  of  an  essen- 
tially different  kind.  We  believe  that  the  miracle  of 
the  deliverance  from  Sennacherib  and  'he  deliver- 
ance at  the  Mame  were  wrought  by  the  same  God 
ard  by  the  same  methods,  and  Psalms  46  and  47 
written  in  celebration  of  that  former  event  are  ju.st 
as  apt  in  connection  with  the  latter.  Wo  can  sing 
with  the  same  assurance  and  for  the  same  reasons 
Israel's  great  song  of  praise, 

God  is  our  refugo  and  strength, 
A  vei-y  present  help  in  trouble. 


The  Law  of  God  is  One 

If  we  are  to  have  any  secure  basis  upon  which  to 
work  we  must  begin  with  the  axiom— the  law  of 


224      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


I  i 


God  is  one.  The  religion  of  the  Old  Testament 
found  its  mature  conviction  in  the  formula :  "  Hear, 
0  Israel :  The  Lord  thy  God  is  One."  But  the  one- 
ness is  something  more  than  numerical.  The 
prophets  enriched  this  with  a  content  of  mefvning 
that  placed  this  proposition  far  beyond  a  mathe- 
matical formula.  It  is  the  unity  of  the  consistency  of 
a  perfect  moral  being.  Such  oneness  is  what  mono- 
theism means  when  spiritually  comprehended.  The 
monotheism  of  Mahomet  is  numerical,  while  that  of 
Isaiah  40  to  55  is  spiritual,  and  therefore  the  latter 
stands  in  a  different  and  higher  category.  If  God  is 
God,  he  must  be  the  same  yesterday,  today,  and  for- 
ever. Only  as  this  is  true  can  this  ancient  book  enter 
into  the  life  of  today  as  supreme  in  leadership.  We 
must  be  able  to  demonstrate  the  reality  of  God  in  ac- 
tion in  the  affairs  of  men,  working  with  the  same 
forces  and  for  the  same  ends,  then  and  now.  There 
must  be  moral  consistency.  That  is  the  only  hope 
for  leadership. 

We  do  not  need  to  go  to  the  fields  of  Flanders  to 
find  deeds  of  frightf ulness.  They  are  in  the  records 
of  ancient  days.  It  is  said  that  in  destroying  Jeri- 
cho "they  utterly  destroyed  all  that  was  in  the 
city,  both  man  and  woman,  young  and  old,  and  ox, 
and  sheep,  and  ass,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  " 
(Josh.  6  :  21).  In  another  place  we  read  the  taunt 
song  (Ps.  137  :  8,  9) : 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      225 

O  daughter  of  Babylon,  who  art  to  be  destroyed, 

Happy  shall  he  be  that  rewardeth  thee  as  thou  hast  served 

us. 
Happy  shall  he  be  that  taketh  and  dasheth  thy  little  ones 
Against  the  stones. 

At  the  conference  on  the  Second  Coming  held  last 
year  in  Philadelphia,  B.  B.  Sutcliffe,  of  Moody  In- 
stitute, said  that  at  the  conclusion  of  the  present 
war  the  Jews  were  to  be  gathered  into  the  land  of 
their  fathers,  only  to  have  fall  upon  them  an  ap- 
palling retributive  vengeance  such  as  would  render 
the  awful  carnage  of  the  present  war  a  mere  drop 
in  the  bucket.  In  our  condemnation  of  Teutonic 
f rightfulness  what  shall  we  say  of  this?  And  yet 
when  modem  scholarship  has  asserted  that  none  of 
these  things  represent  the  action  of  God,  it  has 
been  called  atheistic.  The  only  relief  from  this 
stupendous  moral  difficulty  is  in  the  comprehensive 
view  which  gives  the  clear  line  of  the  action  of  God 
through  history  making  for  righteousness.  That 
alone  can  have  validity  in  the  minds  of  men  who  are 
moved  by  idealism. 

This  action  with  its  reality  and  validity  for  our 
day  stands  out  with  unmistakable  distinctness. 
When  we  go  back  to  the  origins  of  the  Hebrew  na- 
tion we  find  there  two  forces  brought  into  opposi- 
tion. On  the  one  side  is  autocracy,  brutal,  crushing, 
relc.tless;  on  the  other,  a  passion  for  righteous- 
ness, the  feeling  of  moral  obligation.  This  contrast 
P 


}4\ 


m* 


226      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 


t'-  ■ 


runs  down  through  the  history.  The  great  act  of 
deliverance  from  Egypt  manifested  both  the  mercy 
and  the  righteousness  of  God.  This,  followed  by 
the  covenant  at  Sinai  establishing  a  moral  obliga- 
tion, constituted  an  experience  of  such  significance 
that  it  took  a  thousand  years  to  work  out  in  history 
what  was  implicit  in  that  experience.  And  at  each 
stage  in  the  advance  the  nation  recalled  this  de- 
liverance and  this  covenant  and  found  new  meaning 
in  them.  These  fundamental  truths  of  mercy, 
righteousness,  and  moral  obligation  were  developed 
in  history.  They  are  not  the  logical  theories  but  the 
forces  which  operate  in  the  ordering  of  the  world. 
The  great  statements  of  the  idea  of  God  are  state- 
ments of  the  forces  actually  in  operation  accom- 
plishing the  ends  of  righteousness. 

History,  not  speculation,  is  the  great  teacher  of 
the  moral  attributes  of  God.  The  great  achieve- 
ments of  God  vindicate  his  truth.  We,  today,  have 
seen  God  at  work  in  history  manifesting  the  truth 
to  every  conscience  in  such  a  way  that,  as  one  be- 
holds it,  he  is  bound  to  exclaim  with  profound  con- 
viction and  overflowing  joy :  "  God  is  not  mocked. 
Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap." 
Our  duty  is  to  exhibit  the  action  of  God  in  those 
days  of  old  in  such  a  way  that  we  may  demonstrate 
his  moral  attributes  as  realities  of  history  and  thus 
rightly  interpret  and  rightly  direct  our  own  day. 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      227 


Personal  Experience 

III.  Next  we  must  recognize  the  place  of  personal 
experience  in  revelation.  The  modem  world  with 
its  insistence  upon  reality  rightly  emphasizes  per- 
sonal experience  in  religion  and  insists  that  this  is 
the  proper  study  of  theology.  I'his  attitude  is  really 
due  to  Christianity  and  is  altogether  to  our  advan- 
tage, for  religion  from  the  Christian  point  of  view 
is  coming  to  know  God  and  to  be  known  of  God. 
The  Bible  is  a  book  of  religious  experience.  The 
truth  which  it  brings  is  that  which  men  found  in 
personal  experience.  The  old  rabbinic  idea  was 
that  the  agent  of  inspiration  could  be  compared  to  a 
pen  in  the  hands  of  God:  the  patristic  idea  was 
higher,  for  the  comparison  was  with  a  musical  in- 
strument upon  which  God  played.  But  in  revela- 
tion we  deal  with  the  contact  cf  personalities,  and, 
in  the  ultimate  analysis,  nothing  in  the  material 
world  will  make  this  plain.  We  must  speak  in  the 
terms  of  the  experience  of  free,  moral  personality. 

There  are  two  terms  which  are  coordinate :  Reve- 
lation and  Discovery,  That  which  from  one  point 
of  view  we  define  as  revelation,  is,  from  another 
point  of  view,  discovery.  God's  action  is  revelation, 
man's  reaction  is  discovery.  The  two  terms  de- 
scribe the  same  process  in  this  order,  action  and 
reaction.    To  say  that  man  discovers  the  truth  is 


il 


li\ 

Vi  j 
I 


t:  5 


ill  I  u 


228      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 

not  a  way  of  saying  that  it  is  not  revealed.  Where 
God  is  not  coining  forth  in  revelation,  there  can 
be  no  discovery.  Where  man  is  not  responding  in 
personal  discovery  there  can  be  no  revelation. 
Therefore  our  understanding  of  revelation  is  to  be 
found  in  the  study  of  man  as  he  is  discovering  the 
truth,  for  the  question  must  be  approached  from 
man's  side,  and  as  we  are  able  to  penetrate  into  the 
processes  of  discovery  we  shall  come  to  see  how  God 
made  his  revelation.  In  this  way  we  can  examine 
the  supreme  reality:  God  at  work  in  the  human 
soul. 

The  great  religious  expression,  "to  know  God," 
is  this  very  thing,  the  realization  of  God  at  work  in 
the  human  soul.  In  such  an  experience  the  truth 
does  not  come  as  something  which  is  reported  to 
the  mind  as  a  matter  of  information,  no,  it  is  not  a 
report  made  by  God.  "  I  had  heard  of  thee  by  the 
hearing  of  the  ear;  but  now  mine  eye  seeth  thee." 
It  is  the  experience  of  creative  activity  in  the  soul 
working  therein  both  to  will  and  to  do.  It  is  that 
experience  spoken  of  in  the  promise  of  the  new 
covenant  when  the  truth  of  God  is  written  upon  the 
heart  and  so  becomes  incorporated  in  the  very  per- 
sonality. Religion  degenerates  easily  into  unreality 
and  the  most  subtle  and  most  dangerous  form  is 
extemalism  in  religious  knowledge. 

When  we  come  to  the  revelation  of  the  Bible  we 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      229 

find  ourselves  dealing  with  no  exteraalism  or  un- 
reality in  the  knowledge  of  God.  Its  foimula  is 
not,  Rabbi  So-and-So  said  this  and  that,  but  "  Thus 
saith  the  Lord."  We  meet  with  a  reality  of  experi- 
ence which  at  once  carries  the  matter  outside  the 
realm  of  quibbling.  It  confronts  us  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  moral  decisions.  Its  revelation  comes 
through  the  profound  experience  of  life  by  which 
the  truth  is  personally  discovered  and  wrought  into 
the  very  character  of  the  discoverer.  As  Prof.  A.  B. 
Davidson  well  says :  "  The  prophetic  ideas  form  but 
half  of  the  teaching  of  the  prophets;  the  greater 
half  lies  in  their  own  lives  and  relations  with  God." 


Truth  is  a  Person 

We  see  Hosea  passing  through  the  bitter  tragedy 
of  infidelity  but  finding,  deeper  than  wounded 
pride  and  outraged  feeling,  a  love  which  would  per- 
sist through  anything  in  seeking  reconciliation,  and 
out  of  his  heart-rending  experience  he  found  the 
Love  that  will  not  let  us  go.  The  greatest  of  all  the 
prophets  is  Jeremiah.  He  has  left  us  the  most  illu- 
minating self-disclosures.  In  the  travail  of  his  soul 
he  found  the  true  meaning  of  the  personal  relation 
to  God,  He  became  a  man  despised  and  rejected, 
and  out  of  his  sorrow  came  the  glorious  vision  of  the 
new  covenant.    There  stands  the  Fifty-third  Chap- 


! 


•■':Tt 


11:1 


^■ni 


I: 


230      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 

tor  of  Isaiah,  the  climax  of  prophecy.  We  read  it 
altogether  wrongly  if  we  fail  to  see  in  it  the  ex- 
perience of  a  human  soul.  Some  one  bore  a  cross 
before  he  gained  the  insight  to  write  those  lines,  and 
in  the  realm  of  vicarious  suffering  he  attained  his 
understanding  of  the  Great  Servant.  Fellowship  in 
suffering  was  the  writer's  introduction  to  the  Ser- 
vant. The  Psalms  contain  the  records  of  experi- 
ences so  searching  and  intense  that  the  human  heart 
in  every  age  has  come  to  them  to  renew  and  revivify 
the  religious  life.  The  interpretation  of  Paul  rests 
primarily  on  an  appreciation  of  his  personal  experi- 
ence, for  in  it  are  to  be  found  all  the  elements  of  his 
theology. 

This  is  shown  supremely  in  Jesus.  "I  am  the 
Truth."  Truth  in  the  ultimate  analysis  is  a  person. 
Love,  faith,  purity  have  no  independent  existence. 
The  reality  is  a  loving,  faithful,  pure  person.  God 
does  not  realize  himself  in  an  abstract  quahty  or  in 
a  definition,  but  in  a  person.  After  he  had  revealed 
himself  in  various  portions  and  manners,  he  re- 
vealed himself  in  a  Son.  It  is  in  the  Son  that  the 
very  truth  of  the  Father  becomes  manifest.  The 
Person  of  Jesus,  not  the  ('->ctrine  of  the  Person  of 
Jesus,  but  Jesus,  the  living  reality  of  the  divine  life, 
is  the  supreme  study  of  theology. 

Consequently  the  task  of  the  interpreter  is  to 
enter  into  the  profound  experience  of  the  men  of 
230 


ftt' 


■■■XS^?:-^,. 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      231 


God.  That  requires  the  highest  qualities,  the 
greatest  patience  and  self-discipline,  but  as  long 
as  the  Ten  Commandments  are  better  known  than 
Jeremiah  we  ought  to  fail  in  leadership.  This  is 
saying  nothing  against  the  Ten  Commandments. 
But  we  have  left  the  weightier  matter  of  the  gospel 
undone  if  we  have  not  made  the  experiences  of  the 
most  profound  souls  of  ancient  days  living  and  real 
and  with  them  confronted  the  life  of  our  day. 

If  the  Bible  is  to  exercise  that  leadership  which  is 
needed,  it  must  interpret  to  the  men  of  today  the 
movement  of  God  in  their  own  souls.  It  must  give 
then:  some  way  by  which  they  may  test  the  apirits 
whether  they  are  of  God.  The  life  of  God  in  the 
human  soul  can  be  made  an  impelling  reality  when 
shown  in  these  souls  through  whom  the  revelation 
came.  There  we  see  the  truths  of  God  coming  into 
manifestation  as  they  are  wrought  in  the  furnace  of 
experienc  .  We  see  truth  being  inscribed  upon 
hearts  of  flesh,  being  shaped  into  the  undying  forms 
of  personality,  coming  into  being  in  this  world  in 
the  very  fiber  of  a  man's  character.  The  truth  of 
God  is,  as  Tennyson  said  ••»f  life. 


not  as  idle  ore, 
Bat  iron  dug  from  central  gloom, 
And  heated  hot  with  burning  fears, 
And  dipt  in  baths  of  hissing  tears, 
And  battered  with  the  shocks  of  doom 
To  shape  and  use. 


It''' 


W- 


232      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 

One  may  dissent  from  an  argument  and  question 
its  force,  but  truth  of  this  sort  does  not  admit  of 
contradiction.  It  has  reality  and  validity  before 
every  conscience. 


t-S;]{     I, 


A  Book  of  Progress 

IV.  In  line  with  the  principles  set  forth  above  we 
must  present  the  Bible  as  a  book  of  progress. 

The  Bible  is  always  the  book  of  great  expecta- 
tions. It  is  always  anticipatory.  It  is  so  because  it 
deals  with  principles  which  furnish  the  lines  of 
development.  These  principles  never  find  full  reali- 
zation in  any  age,  but  have  a  great  future  latent  in 
them.  Therefore  the  Bible  is  essentially  a  book  of 
leadership  in  the  realm  of  the  affairs  of  human  so- 
ciety. When  God  called  a  people  out  of  slavery 
under  a  brutal  autocracy,  leading  them  by  a  man 
whose  soul  was  ablaze  with  the  cause  of  justice, 
humanity,  and  brotherhood,  releasing  them  by  a 
notable  act  of  merciful  deliverance,  binding  them 
to  him  by  a  covenant  establishing  moral  obligation, 
he  perfonned  an  act  which  involved  an  age-long  line 
of  development  whose  implications  have  not  as  yet 
been  fully  worked  out.  And  in  every  age  the  antici- 
pations of  that  act  have  to  be  brought  to  a  wider 
and  deeper  realization.  The  act  still  leads  onward. 
The  book  is  progressive  in  principle.    It  deals  with 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      233 

the  action  of  God  which  is  always  more  extensive  in 
its  implications  than  its  temporary  form  can  ex- 
press. His  action  is  a  principle  finding  partial  ex- 
pression but  implying  further  action  progressing 
along  the  line  of  the  principle. 

This  means  that  the  temporary  is  constantly  sub- 
ject to  retirement.  There  is  the  cancellation  of  de- 
velopment which  is  constantly  operating  to  anti- 
quate  and  disannul  older  material.  The  book  of 
Hebrews  is  constructed  upon  the  basis  of  this  prin- 
ciple. It  asserts  the  cancellation  of  the  Levitical 
system  because  of  the  coming  in  of  another  system. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  sets  aside  elements  from 
the  Mosaic  system.  The  fulfilment  of  the  law  in- 
volves the  superseding  of  its  earlier  stages.  The 
most  striking  case  is  in  the  Old  Testament.  Isaiah 
asserted  that  the  sanctity  of  the  city  would  protect 
it  against  the  attack  of  Sennacherib.  The  event 
justified  the  claim.  A  century  later  Nebuchadnez- 
zar stood  before  the  walls  of  the  city  and  the  people 
cried,  "  The  temple  of  Jehovah,  the  temple  of  Jeho- 
vah, the  temple  of  Jehovah  are  these ! "  and  fan- 
cied in  this  sanctity  to  find  security.  But  Jeremiah 
said  that  these  were  lying  words.  The  truth  of  the 
days  of  Isaiah  was  a  lie  in  the  days  of  Jeremiah. 
The  slogan  had  become  a  positive  danger.  So  time 
cancels  the  ancient  good  which  has  served  its  day. 
The  secret  of  the  cancellation  is  the  progressive 


mmn 


1}  •■  ;! 

l-f'il    ! 


I':  1 


»   : 


234      The  Bible  in  Leaderihip  in  Thought 

character  of  the  revelation.  God  is  in  action  leading 
onward.  The  religion  of  the  Bible  has  this  vitality 
and  therefore  is  always  prepared  to  meet  new  situa- 
tions and  cope  with  them  by  the  necessary  adjust- 
ments and  developments.  You  cannot  surprise  the 
Bible. 

A  burning  question  today  is  the  eschatology  of 
the  Bible.  This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  it,  but 
one  thing  should  be  said,  and  that  is  that  in  essence 
the  eschatology  of  the  Bible  is  a  religion  of  great 
expectations  meeting  the  successive  crises  of  its 
history,  each  time  looking  for  the  inauguration  of 
a  new  order.  Only  a  religion  with  widening  expec- 
tations developed  through  the  experiences  of  his- 
tory can  have  a  real  eschatology. 


New  Situations 

But  the  Bible  is  not  only  able  to  meet  new  situa- 
tions. It  has  a  more  important  characteristic.  It 
creates  new  situations.  The  Bible  has  often  been 
used  as  the  big  stick  with  which  to  club  the  radicals 
and  the  progressives.  It  is  not  the  function  of  the 
Bible  to  close  discussion,  but  to  open  it.  We  have 
seen  the  disasters  arising  from  the  other  point  of 
view.  Men  tried  to  employ  the  Bible  to  close  scien- 
tific discussion,  and  we  remember  with  shame  the 
attitude  toward  Galileo.    Men  tried  to  use  the  Bible 


-  u  A-' 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  iu  Thought      235 


to  close  political  discussion,  and  we  remember  with 
shame  the  attitude  toward  slavery.  Only  recently 
a  prominent  preacher  of  Boston  employed  the  text, 
"  And  there  was  war  in  heaven,"  to  close  the  discus- 
sion upon  the  League  of  Nations.  But  the  Bible  is 
a  book  to  raise  issues,  to  inaugurate  forward  move- 
ments, to  quicken  new  ideas.  Wherever  the  Bible 
has  entered  society  it  has  been  a  veritable  ferment. 
It  is  as  though  a  woman  took  yeast  and  put  it  in  a 
batch  of  flour. 

We  ask  the  question.  Was  the  Bible  inspired? 
Let  us  rather  ask,  Is  the  Bible  inspiring?  Does  It  lay 
hold  upon  the  deep  feelings  to  make  them  glow  with 
fervor,  does  it  quicken  the  will  with  new  additions 
of  conviction  and  determination,  does  it  cause  men 
to  sing  great  songs  and  dream  great  dreams  and 
attempt  great  deeds  of  high  adventure?  Does  it 
become  the  channel  of  great  forces  entering  social 
and  international  life  in  forward  movements?  If 
this  is  not  true,  what  is  the  use  of  discussing  the 
inspiration?  That  is  proved  when  it  imparts  spirit- 
ual impulses  by  which  men  are  led  forward.  It  is 
proved  a  prophetic  book  when  it  makes  prophets. 

The  Bible  is  inexhaustible.  Ever-new  light  is 
breaking  from  its  pages.  The  fulness  of  its  mean- 
ing can  only  be  known  in  its  reactions  upon  human 
society  through  the  long  course  of  history.  The 
Bible  could  not  be  understood  in  the  second  century 


m 


236 


The  Bible  in  Leaderehip  in  Thought 


|.  ,^; 


as  well  as  in  the  twentieth,  for  it  had  not  been  put 
to  the  test  of  history  that  its  meaning  might  be 
made  the  clearer.  As  we  contemplate  the  new  age 
we  are  entering,  no  less  stupendous  in  its  dangers 
than  in  its  promises,  we  feci  confident  that  this  same 
inexhaustibleness  will  vindicate  the  claim  of  this 
book  to  leadership.  New  light  will  break  from  its 
pages.  If  this  generation  should  take  the  Bible  in 
earnest,  they  would  by  no  moans  exhaust  it  but 
rather  discover  it  opening  such  a  vista  of  new  sig- 
nificance, they  would  pronounce  all  past  accomplish- 
ments a  falling  far  short  of  the  glory  of  God. 

Our  task  in  bringing  the  book  into  its  place  of 
leadership  is  in  manifesting  in  all  clearness  and 
force  the  reality  of  God's  action  and  then  develop- 
ing the  inescapable  implications  of  that  action. 
Thereby  we  can  present  its  linje  of  progress  for 
guidance  in  the  development  of  today. 


Quickening  Thought 

In  conclusion,  the  function  of  the  Bible  is  not  to 
do  the  thinking  for  this  age.  It  does  not  bring  a 
ready-made  set  of  ideas  which  can  pass  as  an  in- 
heritance from  age  to  age.  The  apostolic  injunc- 
tion may  well  be  adapted  to  this  realm  and  we  may 
exhort  each  age  to  work  out  its  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling.    This  day  as  well  as  every  other 


The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought      237 

must  grrapplc  with  its  own  problems  with  all  the  in- 
tellectual vigor  at  its  command,  for  while  there  is 
vicarious  thinking,  there  is  no  substitutionary 
thinking.  This  age  will  discover  tlie  truth  of  the 
Bible  just  to  the  degree  it  thinks  it  through.  Jesus 
often  answered  men's  inquiries  by  tlie  mo  I  search- 
ing questions  and  tantalizing  replies  calculated  to 
set  men  thinking.  His  answer  is  always  one  which 
men  must  grapple  with.  That  is  not  saying  it  is  not 
plain,  but  that  it  is  plain  only  to  those  who  are  will- 
ing to  think. 

Therefore  it  is  true  that  the  Bibl<  will  hav^  influ- 
ence just  so  far  as  it  is  able  to  stir  Ihtmght.  TMnk- 
ing  must  be  free.  Just  so  far  as  it  If  dictaud.  or 
accepted  without  reason,  or  imposed  •*  'radition,  it 
is  not  thinking.  The  function  of  •*  -  Bibi*^  is  to  in- 
spire man's  thinking.  This  it  (  n  do  only  by  con- 
fronting the  world  with  that  whith  has  realty  and 
validity  for  the  soul. 

The  validity  of  this  reality  is  tirely  moral. 
That  is  our  advantage.  The  Bite  functions  n- 
tirely  in  the  moral  realm.  Men  ^-y  as  they  vinv 
literary  theories  of  the  Bible  that  his  theory 
that  iheoi-y  is  true,  they  cannot  c  'i*  thf  Bsbi^ 
While  the  discussion  is  solely  in  thf  -ealrr  of  tr*- 
literary  theory  they  find  in  its  problems  an  o^jstfe^  *, 
to  faith.  But  when  confronted  with  the  activity  of 
God,   when   brought   face  to   face   wir       p^^tua* 


i  1 


i 


■■  !l 


■t  .  .  ;  ! 


238      The  Bible  in  Leadership  in  Thought 

reality,  the  judgment  passes  over  from  a  literary  to 
a  moral  question.  Here  is  the  real  issue  of  rival 
literary  theories — which  one  brings  out  most  clearly 
the  reality  of  God  in  the  world?  That  is  the  real 
test.  And  we  have  sought  in  this  paper  to  show  the 
supreme  necessity  of  accomplishing  this. 

When  the  question  thus  becomes  one  of  facing  the 
reality  of  God,  one  may  turn  away  in  disbelief,  but 
only  at  the  peril  of  his  soul.  There  one  cannot  de- 
bate and  negotiate,  he  can  only  believe  or  disbelieve. 
0'  *  task  is  to  present  the  Bible  in  such  a  way  as  to 
bruig  the  soul  before  the  bar  of  its  truth  and  compel 
a  moral  deci  !on.  We  must  "make  manifest  the 
truth  to  every  conscience  of  man."  That  is  the 
peculiar  function  we  have  in  relation  to  leadership 
in  thought. 

J.  IT.  C. 


w 


'if^^''.^A'-hv 


>j'^'ii^:i 


VI 


THE  LEADERSHIP  OF  THE  MINISTER  IN 
THEOLOGY 

THE  most  important  fact  about  any  commu- 
nity is  its  theology.  By  theology,  of  course, 
is  not  meant  the  irrelevant  speculations  which 
have  sometimes  occupied  the  minds  of  professional 
theologians,  but  our  fundamental  religious  concep- 
tions, our  way  of  looking  at  life.  All  our  activities 
are  conditioned  by  our  basic  ideas,  however  these 
ideas  arose  in  the  long  history  of  the  race  out  of 
the  necessities  of  life  itself.  Behind  the  deed  there 
is  always  a  creed  of  some  kind.  One  of  the  false- 
hoods utterly  discredited  by  the  great  war  is  the 
statement  that  it  does  not  make  any  difference  what 
a  people  believes.  We  have  seen  a  great  people 
drilled  to  believe  that  the  final  object  of  the  state  is 
power,  however  attained,  and  the  result  has  been  a 
sanguinary  struggle  which  has  threatened  the  very 
existence  of  civilization.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
victory  of  the  allied  nations  has  been  due  to  spirit- 
ual forces  no  less  than  to  material.    The  war  was 

239 


S'B! 


''^1:.    -tf«^.iA 


.jm- : 


^m^r^mw^. 


fi-  ■' 


!>  ii 


fitii 


240 


Leadership  in  Theology 


won  by  imponderables,  morale,  ideas.  Wilson's 
typewriter  was  mightier  than  Krupp's  guns.  The 
ultimate  power  in  the  world  is  the  power  which 
shapes  the  thinking  of  men.  The  minister  has  no 
higher  function  than  to  lead  a  community  into  the 
full  acceptance  of  a  Christian  theology. 

My  subject  is  a  large  one,  and  it  is  not  possible  to 
consider  it  in  all  its  phases.  I  shall  concern  myself 
chiefly  with  the  content  of  the  minister's  message. 
Even  here  it  would  be  folly  to  attempt  an  exhaustive 
doctrinal  statement.  My  aim  is  a  more  modest  one. 
I  shall  seek  to  point  out  some  needed  emphases  at 
the  present  time  upon  the  doctrines  of  God,  Jesus, 
salvation,  and  immortality. 


N  \ 


Iff 
h 


I.  God 

The  basic  truth  in  all  religion  is  God.  The  de- 
cisive fact  for  all  of  us  is  the  nature  of  the  Ultimate 
Reality.  Is  it  blind  force  or  purposive  love?  It 
must  be  apparent  to  the  dullest  mind  that  the  whole 
significance  of  life  depends  on  our  answer.  Ber- 
trand  Russell  assures  us  that  all  our  human  achieve- 
ments are  destined  to  be  overwhelmed  by  "the 
trampling  march  of  unconscious  power."  Jesus 
stood  in  the  presence  of  the  universe  and  said,  "  Our 
Father."  The  question  of  God  is  the  question  of  the 
kind  of  world  in  which  we  live.    We  may  be  sure 


Leadership  in  Theology 


.^41 


that  the  Nature  of  Things  will  have  the  last  word, 
and  whether  it  is  friendly  or  hostile  to  our  ideals 
is  the  one  fundamental  consideration.  There  are 
three  descriptive  phrases  with  correlative  tonus  em- 
ployed with  reference  to  God  vhich  demand  atten- 
tion. 

Immanence  and  Transcendence 

The  first  of  these  is  immanence  and  transcen- 
dence. In  recent  years  heavy  emphasis  has  been 
placed  on  the  immanence  of  God.  He  is  within  his 
world  as  well  as  above  :*.  Dr.  A.  H.  Strong,  in  a 
notable  address  at  Cleveland  in  1906,  declared  that 
the  discovery  of  the  immant.^re  of  God  in  the  uni- 
verse was  the  chief  source  of  change  and  improve- 
ment in  modem  theology.  Immanence  is,  indeed,  a 
truth  which  we  can  never  afford  to  lose.  An  an- 
thropomorphic God  sitting  far  off  in  the  heavens 
cannot  meet  the  needs  of  the  human  heart.  Only  a 
God  immanent  in  the  souls  of  men  can  be  the  God 
of  democracy.  God  is  a  Spirit,  th""  Universal  Pres- 
ence, closer  than  breathing,  nearer  ti.an  hands  and 
feet.  The  growth  of  the  various  New  Thought 
movements  shows  the  vitality  of  ine  conception  of 
God  as  the  universal  mind. 

Immanence  of  itself,  however,  lends  to  panthe- 
ism. God  becomes  identified  with  the  world  and 
lost  in  it.  His  personality  is  obscured  and  there 
Q 


u 


ii.l 


i  1j 


242 


Leadership  in  Theology 


follows  the  loss  of  faith  in  the  permanency  of  our 
own.  Furthermore,  there  are  men  who  regard  God 
as  a  name  for  the  spirit  of  the  community,  hu- 
manity in  its  ideal,  corporate  aspect.  To  Prof. 
H.  A.  Overstreet,  God  is  "  The  Common  Mind." 
And  Prof.  E.  S.  Ames  in  "  The  New  Orthodoxy  "  as- 
sures us  that  God  possesses  at  least  such  reality  and 
objectivity  as  our  social  entities,  like  colleges  and 
cities,  but  he  does  not  seem  to  affirm  anything  more. 
It  may  be  doubted  if  such  a  type  of  thought  will  be- 
come the  orthodoxy  of  a  church  universal.  The 
revolt  against  immanentism  in  all  its  extreme 
forms  was  under  way  even  before  the  war.  Ernst 
Troeltsch  declared  in  1912,  "  Beyond  doubt,  in 
the  modem  world  also,  the  ideas  of  the  need  of  re- 
demption, of  another  world,  and  of  the  supersensi- 
ble will  again  make  their  appearance,  and  neither 
immanence  nor  optimism  will  be  its  final  word." 

The  time  now  demands  renewed  emphasis  upon 
the  transcendence  of  God.  He  is  transcendent  if 
he  is  personal.  God  is  no  mere  force  imprisoned  in 
the  cosmic  process,  he  is  the  free  and  purposive  God 
who  created  the  world  by  his  power  and  who  shapes 
the  course  of  history.  Personality  we  know  first 
of  all  in  ourselves  as  reason,  love,  and  will  in  self- 
conscious  unity.  It  is  our  noblest  concept.  We 
have  a  right  to  stand  on  our  highest  hilltop  when 
we  try  to  understand  the  ultimate  realitv.    Streams 


Leadership  in  Theology 


0A'\ 


13 


do  not  rise  higher  than  their  source,  God  also  is  a 
person,  whatever  more.  Nor  is  even,  steady  process 
his  only  method  of  action.  The  abrupt,  the  unex- 
pected, the  catastrophic  enter  into  his  plans  alike  in 
nature  and  in  history.  God  can  answer  prayer,  he 
can  radically  transform  a  man  in  the  experience  of 
conversion,  he  can  utter  himself  in  history  in  the 
transcendent  personality  of  Jesus,  he  can  lift  a  man 
clear  out  of  the  present  order  of  things  into  a  happy 
immortality. 

Love  and  Holiness 

There  is  another  phrase  which  has  played  a  large 
part  in  Christian  thought  concerning  God — love 
and  holiness.  For  decades  the  stress  has  been 
placed  on  love.  The  himianitarianism  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  the  recognition  of  the  divine 
love  went  hand  in  hand.  An  earlier  time  dealt  with 
the  criminal  in  the  spirit  of  vengeance,  but  we  tried 
to  reclaim  him,  rightly  believing  that  all  the  ends 
of  justice  would  be  subserved  by  his  reformation. 
To  Jonathan  Edwards  God  was  a  Ruler ;  to  Dwight 
L.  Moody,  a  Father.  Here  too  is  truth  which  must 
never  be  lost.  God  is  love,  and  love  is  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  law. 

But  the  companion  truth  must  now  receive  larger 
recognition — the  holiness  of  God.  By  holiness  is 
not  meant  mere  punitive  wrath,  as  some  of  the  older 


li;: 


'    ;  ■•  I 


!-■ 


244 


Leadership  in  Theology 


theologians  practically  taught.  Holiness  is  the 
moral  excellence  of  God.  President  Mullins  would 
make  holiness  the  basic  attribute  of  God,  of  which 
love  and  righteousness  are  expressions.  For  my 
part,  I  do  not  see  any  real  difference  between  love 
and  holiness  when  both  terms  are  used  in  their 
deepest  sense.  Love  is  not  indifference  to  moral 
distinctions.  It  opposes  sin  and  seeks  to  eradicate 
it.  Holiness  desires  to  impart  itself  and  thus  to  save 
the  sinner.  Love  and  holiness  have  the  same  end  in 
1  view,  they  are  facets  of  the  same  diamond. 

As  a  matter  of  historical  usage,  however,  each 
word  has  its  special  meaning.  Love  carries  with  it 
the  atmosphere  of  the  divine  compassion  and  kind- 
ness, and  holiness  the  atmosphere  of  the  divine 
rectitude  and  justice.  And  it  is  the  truth  of  the 
divine  holiness  which  our  time  needs  to  hear.  God 
is  the  infinite  excellence  in  whose  character  there 
is  no  trace  of  evil.  The  wickedness  of  this  war  is 
not  the  work  of  God  but  of  man.  The  moral  order 
which  he  has  established  is  inviolable,  sin  always 
carries  suffering  in  its  train.  The  Christian  con- 
ception of  sin  has  been  obscured  in  our  time  by 
naturalism.  A  mistaken  interpretation  of  the 
theory  of  evolution  said  that  ruthless  struggle  was 
the  law  of  progress,  whereas  in  point  of  fact  mutual 
aid  is  as  primordial  as  self-assertion.  A  school  of 
real'poUtik  arose  in  Germany,  with  some  exponents 


1-1  : 


-^^S^^S^ty-^ri  r:«/i«i»pys5MR-f 'JT'CTMF' 


s^^^ss^nsiratMumji 


'(* 


Leadership  in  Theology 


245 


indeed  in  every  land,  which  said  that  might  made 
right.  Success  consecrates  all  crimes.  The  in- 
vaders of  Belgium  were  asked  what  history  would 
say  concerning  their  deeds.  "We  will  write  the 
history,"  was  the  cynical  reply. 

And  now  the  war  has  done  for  us  what  the  suf- 
ferings of  the  exile  did  for  Israel,  it  has  convinced 
us  as  never  before  of  the  reality  of  human  sin  and 
of  the  reality  of  the  divine  holiness.  We  cannot 
set  up  a  moral  order  of  our  own,  we  cannot  even 
vote  it  into  existence.  We  can  only  discover  the 
law  of  God  and,  if  we  are  wise,  obey  it.  God  is  not 
mocked,  man  reaps  what  he  sows.  Every  morning 
at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  there  is  a  heap  of 
dead  birds  at  the  foot  of  the  Statue  of  Liberty  in 
New  York  harbor.  Drawn  by  the  great  light,  the 
birds  beat  against  it  and  fall  dead  at  its  base.  Like 
the  statue  at  the  gate  of  the  New  World  stands  the 
moral  order.  To  pit  our  lives  against  it  is  to  per- 
ish. "  Ye  shall  be  holy,  for  I  the  Lord  your  God  am 
holy."  The  new  order  of  things  after  the  war, 
political,  economic,  social,  if  it  is  to  endure,  must 
stand  on  the  immovable  foundations  of  justice  and 
brotherhood. 

To  one  other  phrase  which  is  applied  to  God  we 
will  refer — goodness  and  power.  Here  we  are  con- 
fronted with  the  problem  of  theodicy,  the  vindica- 
tion of  God's  character  in  view  of  the  presence  of 


'■.■^J^^£/ 


246 


Leadership  in  Theology 


cosmic  and  moral  evil  in  the  world.  The  problem 
has  burdened  the  hearts  of  men  in  all  ages,  it  as- 
sumes especially  acute  form  in  our  own  time.  The 
world  war  has  brought  unparalleled  sufferings  upon 
vast  populations.  How  is  it  possible  to  believe  in 
both  the  goodness  and  power  of  God?  Perhaps  he 
is  powerful  but  indifferent  to  us ;  perhaps  he  is  good 
but  unable  to  help  us. 

In  the  presence  of  this  dilemma  there  were  those 
who  said  that  God  was  kindly  disposed  toward  us 
but  that  his  power  was  limited.  They  saved  the 
moral  character  of  God  at  the  expense  of  his  meta- 
physical omnipotence.  This  was  the  choice  made  by 
John  Stuart  Mill ;  he  said  that  God  was  good  but  not 
omnipotent.  William  James,  and  the  pluralists  gen- 
erally, declare  that  God  is  finite.  And  now  comes 
H.  G.  Wells  to  inform  us  that  the  God  with  whom 
we  have  to  do  is  our  fellow  sufferer  and  fighting 
companion.  As  for  the  God  back  of  all  things,  the 
Veiled  Being,  he  is  neither  benevolent  nor  malevo- 
lent, he  is  indifferent  to  us.  But  the  real  hero  in 
Wells'  theology  is  the  Veiled  Being.  He  represents 
the  inmost  nature  of  things,  the  final  word.  If  he 
is  not  assertively  good,  there  is  no  hope  for  us.  The 
pith  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  that  God,  the 
ultimate  God,  is  forthgoing  and  self-expressive.  In 
other  words,  God  is  love;  not  Father  only,  but  Son 
and  Holy  Spirit,  one  God  blessed  forever.    All  our 


iM. 


Leadership  in  Theology 


247 


religious  interests  have  compelled  us  to  affirm  the 
goodness  of  God. 

The  time  has  come  for  us  to  declare  anew  in  an 
intelligent  and  positive  way  the  power  of  God.  It 
was  precisely  the  hour  of  desperate  suffering  which 
marked  the  world  upheaval  twenty-five  centuries 
ago,  one  of  the  greatest  crises  in  the  whole  history 
of  religion,  when  the  prophets  declared  the  univer- 
sality and  omnipotence  of  God.  In  the  days  of  the 
exile  the  words  were  first  heard :  "  Hast  thou  not 
known?  hast  thou  not  heard?  the  everlasting  God 
the  Lord,  the  creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  faint- 
eth  not,  neither  is  weary."  Men  need  today,  as  truly 
as  then,  the  consciousness  that  the  Love  that  loves 
them  has  adequate  resources  at  its  command. 
Christianity  has  never  said  that  omnipotence  meant 
unconditioned,  irrational  power.  God  is  limited  by 
his  moral  self-consistency  and  by  the  freedom  of 
men.  But  while  God  is  in  history,  he  is  also  above 
history.  He  suffers  with  us,  but  he  overrules  our 
sorrows  unto  good,  making  even  the  wrath  of  men 
to  praise  him.  This  world  is  a  school  of  character, 
and  as  such  we  must  judge  it.  Nor  can  we  fully 
appraise  it  apart  from  the  eternal  order  in  which  it 
merges  and  of  which  it  is  a  part.  But  whatever  the 
mysteries  and  the  difficulties,  we  will  proclaim  with 
unshakable  confidence  that  God  is  Love  and  God  is 
Power. 


1 1 


..-»:<■<: 


.jiiHHpiiiiU'fT-yy.yy-risaB^t' 


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248  Leadership  in  Theology 

II.  Jesus 

The  place  of  Jesus  in  the  thought  of  the  commu- 
nity is  another  vital  concern  of  the  minister.  Jesus 
is  the  central  fact  in  the  Christian  religion.  His 
personality  has  an  importance  for  us  to  which  no 
other  rligion  offers  a  parallel.  Loyalty  to  Jesus 
was  the  louchstone  of  disciplcship  in  the  first  days 
of  Christianity  and  it  is  rightly  so  today.  "  Come 
to  Josus,"  this  is  the  evangelical  message.  But  such 
an  invitation  has  no  significance  for  men  until  they 
know  who  Jesus  is,  what  he  teaches,  what  he  wants 
us  to  do. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Jesus  is  today  the 
central  problem  in  both  historical  and  systematic 
theology.  The  most  painstaking  study  of  the  old- 
est literary  sources  has  vindicated  the  historicity 
of  his  career.  There  was  such  a  man  as  Jesus. 
Further,  the  Christ  presented  in  our  oldest  docu- 
ments is  essentially  the  Christ  in  whom  the  church 
has  always  believed.  It  is  conceded  by  liberal  schol- 
ars that  these  documents  do  not  give  us  the  humani- 
tarian Jesus  of  nineteenth  century  liberal  Chris- 
tianity but  the  heaven-sent  deliverer.  Th(  phrase 
"  Son  of  man,"  the  favorite  designation  of  Jesus  in 
the  Gospels,  does  not  set  forth  his  humanity  in  op- 
position to  his  divinity.  Coming  as  it  does  from  the 
book  of  Daniel,  it  means  Messiah,  just  as  the  phrase 


Leadership  in  Theology 


219 


"  Son  of  God  "  in  the  Gospels  means  Messiah,  Mes- 
siah in  the  supernatural  and  not  merely  in  the  po- 
litical sense.  It  is  a  divine  Saviour  who  looks  out 
upon  us  from  the  very  first  pages  of  the  earliest 
sources  in  the  New  Testament. 


Social  Teachings 

The  world  today  stands  in  special  need  of  the 
teachings  of  Jesus,  particularly  his  social  teachings. 
It  has  been  the  fashion  of  worldly-wise  men  to  dis- 
parage the  social  ethics  of  Jesus.  They  said  that 
his  words  were  an  impracticable  idealism.  The 
Golden  Rule  in  politics  was  termed  an  iridescent 
dream  some  years  ago  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
The  recent  recovery  of  the  eschatological  back- 
ground of  the  Gospels  has  brought  new  difficulties 
to  many  minds  with  regard  to  the  social  teachings 
of  Jesus.  The  first  Christians  took  over  Jewish 
Messianism  and  were  living  in  momentary  expecta- 
tion of  a  supematuralistic  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Therefore  it  was  said  that  Jesus 
gave  us  an  interim  ethics,  an  impossible  other- 
worldliness.  We  are  glad  that  Jesus  did  state  his 
message  in  the  light  of  an  ideal  order.  For  that 
very  reason  his  words  rise  above  the  accommoda- 
tions of  history  into  a  timeless  and  eternal  gospel. 

The  social  message  of  Jesus  can  be  put  in  a  single 


250 


Leadership  in  Theology 


¥  1 


I   -i 


word— service.  The  greatest  words  that  fell  from 
his  lips  were  these :  "  Ha  that  findeth  his  life  shall 
lose  it ;  and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sake  shall 
find  it."  Self-realization  comes  through  self-sacri- 
fice. Mutual  service,  this  is  the  law  of  life  alike  for 
the  individual  and  the  state.  Over  against  the 
Nietzschean  conception  of  life  as  ruthless  self-as- 
sertion stands  the  ideal  of  Jeaus.  Before  the  war 
Professor  Cramb  of  Cambridge  declared  that  the 
supreme  significance  of  the  twentieth  century  was 
the  struggle  between  Napoleon  and  Jesus  for  the 
mastery  of  the  European  mind.  Corsica  against 
Galilee.  The  philosophy  of  force  against  the  phi- 
losophy of  service.  Kaiser  against  Christ.  The  war 
has  discredited  the  whole  social  Darwinism  which 
opposes  itself  to  Jesus.  It  is  plainly  impossible  to 
build  our  human  world  upon  it.  If  the  royal  fugi- 
tive in  Holland  would  speak  as  the  situation  requires, 
he  would  cry,  "  Galilean,  thou  hast  conquered ! " 
On  every  hand  men  are  beginning  to  see  that  the 
one  hope  of  the  world  is  conformity  to  the  basic 
principles  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  Only  the 
golden  rule  of  Jesus  will  ever  bring  the  golden  age 
of  man. 


Our  Moral  Ideal 

We  must  do  more  than  emphasize  the  teachings 
of  Jesus,  we  must  lead  the  community  to  see  in  him 


Leaderthip  in  Theology 


251 


our  moral  ideal.  His  teachings  are  not  abstrac 
truths,  they  are  embodied  in  his  life.  The  char 
acter  of  Jesus  stands  out  as  our  standard  and  inspi- 
ration. He  was  both  strong  and  gentle.  In  him 
was  courage  and  strength,  and  yet  sympathy  and 
tenderness.  He  was  the  most  social  of  men,  yet  he 
knew  how  to  stand  alone.  He  was  mystical  and 
idealistic,  yet  practical  and  masterful.  Wo  must 
present  to  men  the  real  Jesus,  the  historical  Jesus. 
Back  to  the  Gospels. 

One  of  the  most  thoughtful  of  the  British  chap- 
lains, author  of  "  As  Tommy  Sees  Us,"  has  pointed 
out  our  duty  in  the  present  hour.  "  I  believe."  say.s 
he,  "  that  we  can  well  afford  to  give  a  re.st  to  our 
able  lectures  on  Old  Testament  history,  to  our 
scholarly  expositions  of  obscure  passages,  to  our 
profound  dealings  with  ultimate  mysteries,  to  most 
of  our  doctrinal  discussions,  and,  above  all,  to  our 
purely  imaginative  pulpit  confections,  and  our 
poetical  essays  on  fancy  texts.  Some  of  'lese 
things  may  be  wanted  again — some  never  again. 
But  meantime  what  is  wanted  is  preaching  about 
the  real  Jesus,  the  Man  of  Galilee  who  was  also  '  rod. 
If  we  can  help  men  to  see  him,  not  our  doctrines 
about  him,  but  the  Master  himself,  wc  shall  have 
done  all  that  we  can  do,"  reproducing  the  testimony 
of  an  enthusiastic  Philip  and  an  adoring  Paul  that 
will  bring  men  face  to  face  with  hmi. 


'I 


I 


'Ill 
.(I 


252 


Leadership  in  Theology 


God  in  Christ 

It  does  not  suffice,  however,  to  stop  with  Jesus 
simply  as  moral  ideal.  We  need  faith  in  Jesus  as 
well  as  the  faith  of  Jesus.  As  we  know  the  histori- 
cnl  Jesus,  certain  ultimate  appreciations  press  hon^o 
to  our  minds.  This  was  the  experience  of  the  first 
disciples.  After  months  of  fellowship,  Jesus  asked, 
"  Who  say  ye  that  I  am?  "  And  the  answer  came, 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God." 
Their  faith  had  its  basis  in  actual  acquaintance.  It 
was  not  a  mere  theological  speculation  but  a  per- 
sonal evaluation.  In  and  through  the  human  they 
discoveied  the  divine. 

This  was  the  way  in  which  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
came  into  a  vital  faith  in  Jesus.  He  left  Lane  Theo- 
logical Seminary  with  a  soul  deeply  troubled  by  the 
Calvinism  which  he  had  been  taught.  God  seemed 
to  him  different  from  Jesus ;  one  was  vengeance,  the 
other,  love.  Like  one  of  Olive  Schreiner's  charac- 
ters he  could  say  that  he  loved  Jesus  but  he  hated 
God.  Then  one  day  when  the  burden  of  life  was 
heavy,  the  words  flashed  upon  him,  "  God  was  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself."  He  saw 
that  there  was  no  moral  dualism  between  God  and 
Jesus,  God  in  his  essential  character  forever  is  what 
we  see  him  to  be  in  Jesus.  And  Beecher  in  the  joy 
of  a  supreme  discovery  ran  through   forest  and 


Leadership  in  Theology 


253 


meadow  shouting:  "  I  have  found  my  God!    I  have 
found  my  God !  " 

His  experience,  which  is  the  essential  experience 
of  all  Christians,  found  expression  in  the  lines : 

The  night  was  dark  and  the  shadows  spread 

As  far  as  the  eye  could  see. 
I  stretched  my  hands  to  a  human  Christ 

And  he  walked  in  the  dark  with  me. 

Out  of  the  dimness  at  last  we  came, 

Our  feet  on  the  dawn-warmed  sod; 
And  I  saw  by  the  light  in  his  wondrous  eyes, 

I  walked  with  the  Son  of  God. 

The  doctrine  of  the  deity  of  Christ  has  its  secure 
foundations  in  the  content  of  his  personality.  In 
him  we  see  a  supreme  love  and  holiness  which  can 
only  be  the  self-manifestation  of  God  in  history. 
The  historic  creeds  sought  to  affirm  two  things — 
Jesus  was  divine,  and  he  was  human ;  Jesus  was  one 
with  God,  and  he  was  distinct  from  God.  To  deny 
either  of  these  truths  was  to  depart  from  the  faith. 
Greek  thought  stated  these  truths  in  the  terms  of  a 
dualistic  substance  philosophy.  Today  we  think  in 
terms  of  personality.  God  himself  is  the  perfect 
personality,  man  is  personality  in  its  rude  begin- 
nings. But  the  com.mon  denominator  for  God  and 
man  is  personality.  It  is  the  unique  perfection  of 
his  personality  which  makes  Jesus  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh.     Apart  from  God's  revelation  of  himself 


lis 


i 


To   ■    ( 


254 


Leadership  in  Theology 


in  terms  of  human  life,  God  is  to  us  a  bare  abstrac- 
tion. All  the  names  we  give  to  God  come  from 
our  human  experience:  "Our  Father  who  art  in 
heaven  ";  "  The  Lord  is  my  shepherd."  It  is  Jesus 
who  puts  content  into  the  concept  of  God,  who 
makes  God  real  to  us.  To  see  him,  therefore,  is  to 
see  the  Father.  Jesus  as  the  Way  to  God  is  to  us 
all  that  he  was  to  Justin  Martyr  and  to  Athai^asius. 
All  the  historic  terms  concerning  Jesus  are  tm  as 
efforts  to  express  realities  which  Me  beyond  the 
reach  of  human  speech:  Jesus  is  Son  of  man  and 
Son  of  God ;  he  is  Messiah  and  Logos ;  he  is  the  first- 
bom  among  many  brethren  and  the  only  begotten 
Son;  he  is  true  man  and  at  the  same  time  very  God 
of  very  God. 

We  have  failed  in  our  theological  leadership  in 
the  community  until  we  bring  man  to  experience  the 
reality  of  God  in  Jesus.  Men  want  to  know  God, 
not  simply  man  but  God,  the  final  power  behind  his- 
tory, in  whose  hands  are  our  destinies.  Bushnell 
voiced  our  aspiration,  "  God  is  what  we  want,  not 
a  man,  God  revealed  through  man,  that  we  may  see 
his  heart  and  hide  our  guilty  nature  in  the  bosom  of 
his  love."  All  Christian  history  is  proof  that  the 
vitality  of  our  religion  lies  in  the  interpretation  of 
Jesus,  not  only  as  moral  ideal,  but  as  the  disclosure 
of  the  Father.  We  must  preach  Jesus  not  merely  as 
the  saint  whom  we  offer  to  God  but  as  the  Saviour 


Leadership  in  Theology 


255 


whom  God  sends  to  us.  The  ultimate  redemptive 
power  of  Jesus  resides  in  the  fact  that  in  him  and 
through  him  we  come  to  God. 


III.  Salvation 

Our  message  as  ministers,  furthermore,  has  to 
do  with  salvation.  Christianity  is  a  redemptive 
religion.  It  has  for  its  back, ground  the  dark  fact  of 
human  sin.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  there 
has  come  about  a  deepened  conscious'iess  of  sin  in 
the  world.  Through  the  crust  of  our  boasted  cul- 
tural achievements  there  broke  the  incredible  self- 
ishness and  brutality  of  this  war.  The  editor  of  the 
Hibbert  Journal  declares  that  we  have  overestimated 
our  actual  moral  prog- -^ss,  if  not  the  moral  capaci- 
ties of  human  nature.  No  one  can  indeed  deny  the 
ideal  possibilities  of  man  as  God  made  him,  but  our 
kinship  v  ith  the  brutes  is  equally  beyond  the  range 
of  dispute. 

Our  gospel  must  find  expression  in  essentially 
personal  terms.  This  is  a  universe  of  persons,  God, 
the  neighbors,  and  ourselves.  Nothing  counts  but 
personal  relationships.  Abstract  qualities,  which 
have  figured  so  largely  in  theological  discussion, 
have  no  existence  apart  from  persons.  There  is  no 
sin  apart  from  the  sinner.  It  cannot  even  be  said 
strictly  that  God  forgives  sin,  he  forgives  the  sin- 


rf^ 


IM 


256 


Leadership  in  Theology 


ner.  It  is  not  law  which  must  be  satisfied,  but  Gotl, 
and  nothing  can  fully  satisfy  God  save  the  achieve- 
ment of  his  redemptive  purpose.  Faith  cannot  be 
defined  impersonally.  It  cannot  mean  fundamen- 
tally the  acceptance  of  creedal  statements.  Rather 
it  is  personal  commitment  of  ourselves  to  God  in 
Christ.  It  is  the  bond  of  a  supreme  friendship 
through  which  God  imparts  himself  to  us  and  makes 
us  like  himself.  Prayer  is  the  very  heart  of  re- 
ligion because  prayer  is  man  in  fellowship  with 
God. 

Here  we  see  the  basic  importance  of  the  mystical 
element  in  religion.  By  mysticism  we  mean  the 
enjoyment  of  the  presence  of  God.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  our  experience  of  God  is  always  historically 
mediated.  The  Spirit  takes  the  things  of  Christ 
and  shows  them  unto  us.  Over  against  the  mystical 
element  stands  the  ethical,  whose  importance  no 
one  can  overemphasize.  The  mystical  and  ethical 
must  ever  go  together.  But  if  one  has  logical 
priority  it  is  the  mystical.  The  inspirations  of  our 
personal  relationships  furnish  the  dynamic  for  our 
duties.  To  reduce  religion  to  the  merely  ethical  is 
to  destroy  it.  Filial  relation  to  God  first,  then  our 
moral  activities.  Ethical  fruits,  so  highly  prized 
even  by  the  worldly-wise,  grow  only  on  the  tree 
whose  roots  somehow  reach  down  into  the  heart  of 
God. 


Leadership  in  Tbeology 


25" 


Atonement 

The  way  by  which  the  sinner  comes  in'  g  , 
relations  with  God  is  often  called  Atonemei  it  s 
a  self-defmitive  word,  at-one-ment,  and  si  ^s  i  i 
its  broadest  sense  the  attainment  of  true  an^i  hai- 
monious  relations  with  God.  The  best  synonym 
for  it  is  reconciliation.  Because  of  the  part  played 
by  Jesus'  death  in  bringing  about  our  reconciliation 
with  God,  atonement  is  specifically  connected  with 
the  Cross.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Cross  must 
assume  a  new  power  in  our  message  in  the  light 
of  the  sacrifices  of  the  war.  The  world  has  been 
delivered  by  vicarious  suffering.  Our  noblest  youth, 
though  personally  guiltless  of  causing  the  war,  have 
given  their  lives  for  human  freedom.  Beside  the 
body  of  an  American  boy  south  of  the  Vesle  River 
in  France  was  a  gas-mask  upon  which  were  the 
words  written  by  a  dying  hand,  "For  God  and 
humanity."  In  the  presence  of  such  a  sacrifice,  we 
must  feel  anew  the  power  and  glory  of  Calvary. 

Theories  of  atonement  differ,  but  the  fact  le- 
mains  to  break  our  hard  hearts  and  to  bring  us  to 
Cod.  Perhaps  Henry  Van  Dyke  is  right  in  saying 
that  every  theory  of  atonement  is  true  except  the 
exclusive  one,  every  theory  has  some  truth  in  it. 
The  sacrifices  of  tlie  war  confirm  the  age-long  truth 
that  the  innocent  suffer  for  the  guilty,  and  by  their 
K 


II 

•■  i! 


I '! :; 


258 


Leadership  in  Theology 


suffering  bring  deliverance.  But  this  truth  does 
not  rehabilitate  some  historic  theories  of  atone- 
ment. The  death  of  Jesus  has  its  unique  elements, 
corresponding  to  his  unique  character,  but  there  is 
nothing  in  the  facts  of  the  war  to  prove  that  the 
death  of  Jesus  was  a  ransom  paid  to  Satan  or  a 
mere  appeasement  of  a  wrathful  deity.  His  death 
possessed  significance  for  both  God  and  man,  but 
seen  in  the  light  of  the  soldier's  sacrifice  it  is  a  reve- 
lation of  holy  love  and  a  norm  of  sacrificial  devo- 
tion. 

Our  burdened  hearts  can  be  satisfied  only  by  the 
thought  of  a  God  who  shares  our  burdens,  who  suf- 
fers with  us  and  for  us  as  he  establishes  his  king- 
dom in  the  world.  This  is  the  truth  graphically 
pictured  in  the  book  of  Revelation.  The  seer  saw 
through  the  open  door  of  heaven  a  throne  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne  a  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain. 
Here  is  truth  in  the  symbolism  of  the  Jewish  sacri- 
ficial system.  We  must  see  the  truth  within  the 
ssmibol  and  state  it,  if  we  can,  in  terms  more  intel- 
ligible to  our  time.  The  throne?  That  is  the  place 
of  power.  That  is  what  I  want  to  know — ^the  char- 
acter of  the  ultimate  power.  The  Lamb  slain? 
That  is  the  self-offering  of  Jesus  on  „iie  cross. 
What  we  are  told  is  this — sacrificial  love  is  the  reg- 
nant and  final  force  in  the  universe.  We  are  not  at 
the  mercy  of  '*  the  trampling  march  of  unconscious 


Leadership  in  Theology 


259 


power."  We  are  in  a  world  in  which  self-giving 
personality  is  the  central  and  victorious  fact.  I  am 
glad  to  live  in  a  universe  upon  whose  throne  is  Love 
that  died  for  me. 

To  be  godlike,  then,  is  ourselves  to  live  sacrificial 
lives.  We  are  saved  when  the  cross  which  once 
stood  on  Calvary  is  planted  in  our  hearts.  Self- 
giving  is  primarily  a  fact  of  the  will  and  not  of  the 
body.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  said  of  Jesus  that  not 
death  but  willingness  to  die  pleased  the  Father.  We 
are  sharers  of  Jesus*  spirit  when  we  give  our- 
selves, as  God  pleases,  in  death  or  in  service.  The 
Cross  summons  us  to  spend  ourselves  in  devotion  to 
the  kingdom  of  God.  And  always  beyond  the  Cross 
lies  Easter  morning.    Like  our  Lord,  we  die  to  live. 


Social  Salvation 

No  presentation  of  salvation  in  our  time  can  be 
adequate  which  does  not  recognize  its  social  aspect. 
Jesus  knew  nothing  of  a  salvation  apart  from  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Personality  is  essentially  social. 
A  man  can  be  himself  and  become  himself  only 
in  social  relations.  Utter  isolation  is  annihilation. 
The  church  as  a  fellowship  of  believers  indwelt  by 
the  Spirit,  gives  us  a  spiritual  environment.  But 
our  personal  relationships  reach  out  beyond  the 
church  and  bind  us  to  the  whole  community,  to  hu- 


'Ill 


2G0 


Leadership  in  Theology 


manity  everywhere.  The  two  things  go  together 
— we  must  save  the  irdividual  in  order  to  save  so- 
ciety, and  we  must  save  society  in  order  to  save  the 
individual.  Men  make  institutions,  true,  but  insti- 
tutions make  men.  We  must  save  them  both.  This 
means  that  we  must  labor  to  create  a  more  Chris- 
tian social  order.  All  Christians  believe  in  the 
realization  of  a  perfected  society  of  faithful  souls, 
sometime,  somewhere,  but  they  differ  in  their  con- 
ception of  the  method  of  its  coming.  We  may  be 
sure  that  it  will  never  come  by  any  mechanically 
inevitable  evolution,  eventuating  in  what  William 
James  satirized  as  Spencer's  Elysian  pink  tea  of  the 
finished  cosmic  struggle.  It  will  come  through  the 
outstretched  power  of  God  and  through  the  loyal 
cooperation  of  men.  We  must  toil  as  though  all 
depended  upon  us  and  we  must  trust  as  though  all 
depended  upon  God.  And,  after  all,  it  is  only  a  rela- 
tive perfection  to  which  we  can  look  forward  under 
the  conditions  of  our  earthly  life,  with  the  imma- 
ture personalities  of  new  generations  ever  coming 
upon  the  scene.  The  full  realization  of  a  divine 
fellowship,  of  a  kingdom  of  God,  lies  beyond  the 
borders  of  time. 

IV.  Immortality 

Another  factor  of  vital  importance  in  our  theo- 
loj^ical  leadership  is  immortality.    It  is  necessary  to 


Leadership  in  Theology 


261 


recognize  the  fact  of  a  deepened  public  interest  in 
this  subject.  There  has  been  more  thinking  on  the 
future  life  during  the  past  four  years  than  in  the 
preceding  generation.  In  intellectual  circlts,  es- 
pecially, there  had  arisen  a  wide-spread  agnosti- 
cism with  regard  to  life  after  death  and  often  a  de- 
nial of  it.  The  recognition  of  the  vastness  of  the 
universe,  the  discovery  of  the  intimacy  of  the  de- 
pendence of  consciousness  on  the  brain,  the  new  in- 
terest in  social  salvation,  these  forces  and  many 
others  obscured  the  hope  of  immortality. 


Return  of  the  TroE 

As  a  rule,  men  parted  reluctantly  with  the  expec- 
tation of  a  life  beyond  death.  Among  the  most 
pathetic  words  written  in  our  time  are  the  words 
found  in  the  closing  chapter  of  Herbert  Spencer's 
last  book.  "  Old  people,"  says  he,  "  must  have  many 
reflections  in  common.  Doubtless  one  which  I  have 
now  in  mind  is  very  familiar.  For  years  past,  when 
watching  the  unfolding  buds  in  the  spring  there  has 
arisen  the  thought :  Shall  I  ever  again  see  the  buds 
unfold?  Shall  I  ever  again  be  awakened  at  dawn 
by  the  song  of  the  thrush?  Now  that  the  end  is  not 
likely  to  be  long  postponed,  there  results  an  increas- 
ing tendency  to  meditate  upon  ultimate  questions. 
.  .  But  it  seems  a  strange  and  repugnant  conclusion 


262 


Leadenhip  in  Theology 


„  V!i 

I*    tu 


4  ;! 


that  with  the  cessation  of  coniciousneu  at  death, 
there  ceases  to  be  any  knowledge  of  having  existed." 
With  dissatisfied  hearts  the  agnostics  watched  the 
tide  of  faith  ebb  out  to  sea,  leaving  visible  the  naked 
shingles  of  the  world.  But  now  the  tide  is  swinging 
back,  the  waters  in  all  their  strength  and  beauty  are 
beating  ever  higher  on  the  shore,  the  stir  of  power 
from  out  the  deep  is  evident  in  rustling  sands  and 
quivering  grasses — a  new  era  of  faith  has  begun. 

It  is  clearly  seen  that  science  as  such  has  nothing 
to  say  either  for  or  against  immortality.  To  be- 
little man  in  contrast  with  a  physical  universe 
which,  after  all,  in  its  discovered  greatness,  he  com- 
prehends with  his  mind  and  thereby  transcends,  is 
a  gratuitous  perfoi*mance.  And  by  what  right  does 
any  man  assume  that  consciousness  cannot  possibly 
exist  apart  from  the  brain?  Our  dependence  upon 
the  brain  is  simply  a  matter  of  present  experience 
and  not  of  logical  necessity.  May  it  not  be  that  the 
spirit  of  man  is  not  the  music  of  the  violin  but  the 
violinist  himself?  Though  the  instrument  is  de- 
stroyed, the  musician  lives.  And  it  is  certainly  not 
inconceivable  that  he  may  receive  a  new  and  better 
instrument.  And  does  interest  in  social  salvation 
require  us  to  cheapen  man  into  a  perishable  incident 
in  the  clash  of  blind  cosmic  forces?  The  very  dy- 
namic of  the  social  movement  is  a  sense  of  the  worth 
of  personality. 


t-TTC?^-*"  ^^  .■■  ^ 


-!-rV->v*^:~r  >?^^.: 


Leadership  in  Theology 


263 


Basis  of  Hope 

Our  assurance  of  immortality  does  not  rest  upon 
mathematical  demonstrations  but  upon  moral  cer- 
tainties. Only  abstractions,  like  the  empty  propo- 
sitions of  geometry,  can  be  mathematically  demon- 
strated, but  the  realities  of  life  by  which  men  live — 
home,  friendship,  community,  religion — are  not  ab- 
stractions. Even  the  scientist  lives  by  faith,  for  he 
assumes  the  trustworthiness  of  his  own  faculties 
and  the  coherence  of  all  things  in  a  single  system  of 
reality.  Our  confidence  in  a  future  life  is  a  supreme 
act  of  faith  in  the  reasonableness  of  the  universe. 
The  long  course  of  evolution  has  culminated  in  hu- 
man personality.  The  Eternal  Purpose  will  not 
reverse  itself  at  what  we  call  death,  it  will  go  on  to 
its  consummations.  The  perfecting  of  human  per- 
sonalities in  a  fellowship  beyond  the  grave,  this  is 
the  one  goal  worthy  alike  of  man  and  God. 

The  war  has  brought  about  a  change  of  spiritual 
climate.  There  are  new  demands  on  the  part  of  the 
human  spirit  which  religion  must  meet.  Millions  of 
our  noblest  lives,  in  the  very  morning  of  their  day, 
have  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world.  Countless  homes  in  an  agony  of  loneliness 
are  asking  what  has  become  of  the  brave  lads  who 
willingly  died  on  the  battle-fields.  Our  bereaved 
humanity  is  driven  to  the  assurance  which  sustains 


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264 


Leadership  in  Theology 


the  heart  of  George  Adam  Smith,  two  of  whose  sons 
laid  down  their  lives  for  Britain  and  the  world — 
God  will  deal  fairly  with  them.  They  who  gave 
their  all  here  will  inherit  a  world  to  come.  As 
never  before  in  human  history  the  minister  is  called 
to  preach  a  gospel  of  comfort  and  of  hope,  and  such 
a  gospel  includes  the  life  everlasting. 

Religious  Experience  and  Immortality 

In  presenting  the  truth  of  immortality,  it  is  well 
to  eniphasize  the  experiential  aspects  of  our  hope. 
Only  thus  can  we  accord  with  some  of  the  deepest 
intellectual  currents  of  our  age.  We  do  not  wish 
to  minimize  the  historical  side  of  the  Christian  faith 
in  immortality.  The  actual  triumph  of  Jesus  over 
death  has  been  from  the  first  a  fundamental  affirma- 
tion of  believers.  But  as  James  Denney  told  us,  we 
must  not  deal  with  historical  facts  too  abstractly, 
we  must  see  them  in  relation  to  the  values  of  re- 
ligious experience.  And  he  declared  that  the  su- 
preme service  which  Jesus  rendered  with  respect 
to  the  hope  of  immortality  is  to  bring  us  into  such 
an  experience  of  God  that  our  hope  becomes  an  in- 
ward certainty.  Times  of  sacrificial  devotion  in 
human  history  are  precisely  the  times  when  the  im- 
mortal hope  shines  brightest,  for  it  is  then  that  we 
become  most  clearly  aware  of  values  which  death 


Leadership  in  Theology 


265 


cannot  touch.  As  we  share  in  the  Christian  experi- 
ence of  salvation  we  become  conscious  of  a  life 
which  is  in  itself  deathless. 

It  is  instructive  to  recall  the  only  approach  to  an 
argument  concerning  immortality  made  by  Jesus. 
The  Sadducees  sought  to  discredit  the  resurrection 
with  a  quibble  concerning  a  woman  seven  times 
married.  Jesus  replied  to  the  quibble  and  then  took 
up  the  main  issue :  "  As  touching  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read  what  God  said  unto 
Moses  at  the  Bush :  I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  the 
God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.  God  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead  but  of  the  living."  That  is,  men 
who  can  enter  into  fellowship  with  God  possess  in 
themselves  such  worth  that  they  cannot  die.  They 
mean  too  much  to  God  ever  to  perish.  God  cannot 
take  a  man  up  into  fellowship  with  himself  and  then 
drop  him  into  nothingness.  If  a  man  would  be  sure 
of  immortality,  let  him  be  the  friend  of  God,  let  him 
live  here  and  now  the  immortal  life. 

We  have  a  duty  in  our  preaching  to  make  the 
future  life  morally  attractive.  The  heaven  of  tra- 
ditional hymnology  is  too  static  and  individualistic 
to  appeal  to  men  touched  by  the  social  spirit.  Rest 
is  good,  but  the  prospect  of  endless  idleness  has  no 
charm  for  virile  souls.  It  is  difficult  to  think  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt  doing  nothing  forever  and  ever. 
We  must  socialize  heaven.    It  must  be  conceived  as 


i 


266 


Leadership  in  Theology 


a  place  of  real  tasks  and  real  progress.    We  will 
strive  and  thrive,  fight  on,  fare  ever,  there  as  here. 


it 


The  Price  of  Ministerial  Power 

These  are  the  main  truths  in  which  the  minister 
seeks  to  instruct  the  community,  Go(^  Jesus,  Salva- 
tion, Immoi-tality.  Leadership  in  the  presentation 
of  these  truths  has  its  necessary  conditions.  We 
must  pay  the  price  of  power. 

The  minister  mast  know  the  sweep  of  divine  reve- 
lation in  order  to  preach  with  perspective  and  effec- 
tiveness. He  will  seek  to  be  a  master  of  the  su- 
preme historical  revelation  of  God  recorded  in  the 
Scriptures.  He  will  acquaint  himself  with  the  tides 
of  thought  which  course  through  the  Christian  cen- 
turies down  to  our  own  time.  And  he  will  endeavor 
to  organize  his  ideas  into  a  self-consistent  system. 
A  "  system  "  of  theology  has  a  portentous  sound  to 
our  scatter-brained  generation.  A  theological  sys- 
tem is  like  a  skeleton,  horrific  when  stripped  of  its 
historical  flesh,  but  its  presence  within  a  minister 
makes  all  the  difference  between  a  vertebrate  and  a 
mollusk.  Only  a  comprehensive  and  well-ordered 
theology  enables  us  to  see  and  to  declare  truth  in 
its  proportions.  It  saves  us  from  wasting  ourselves 
on  matters  of  incidental  importance  and  qualifies 
us  to  devote  ourselves  to  those  fundamental  matters 


:'Tf: 


wiv^iKvaMiffi 


Leadership  in  Theology 


267 


which  really  build  up  a  church,  mold  &  community, 
and  glorify  God. 

There  are  fields  of  thought  which  we  must  master, 
especially  in  theological  seminaries,  which  are  de- 
signed to  give  us  not  merely  the  substance  of  ser- 
mons but  a  point  of  view.  Back  of  the  city  of 
Berkeley,  California,  there  is  a  range  of  hills  cul- 
minating in  a  height  about  two  thousand  feet  above 
sea-level,  known  as  Grizzly  P^ak.  I  found  it  a  long 
hard  climb  to  its  wind-swept  summit.  But  the  out- 
look from  it  was  ample  reward.  To  the  west  I  saw 
the  magnificent  Bay  of  San  Francisco,  stretching  to 
the  south  toward  the  Santa  Clara  valley,  to  the 
north  toward  the  great  naval  station  at  Vallejo. 
About  its  shore  were  great  cities — San  Francisco 
lying  on  the  southern  peninsula  over  against  Twin 
Peaks ;  Alameda,  Oakland,  and  Berkeley  at  my  very 
feet.  On  the  northern  peninsula  was  Muir  Woods 
and  mist-crowned  Mount  Tamalpais.  Then  straight 
before  me  lay  the  Golden  Gate,  opening  out  on  the 
illimitable  expanse  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Turning 
to  the  east,  I  saw,  that  unforgetable  April  day, 
across  the  great  valley  of  the  San  Joaquin  and 
Sacramento,  stretching  for  hundreds  of  miles,  the 
snow-clad  '^eaks  of  the  mighty  Sierras.  All  this  I 
saw,  but  I  did  not  see  the  summit  of  Grizzly  Peak,  I 
was  standing  on  it.  It  was  my  point  of  view.  Often 
when  the  task  pressed  heavily  I  climbed  to  the  crest 


181*:^.  -..-  .*tUJt,-Sw'.-aM..TVV»g^ ' 


-^-wr.p:r^    Tf'^'irr 


.«!.    *  t.  *■ 


r-^ 


i  i  '■■) 


268 


Leadership  in  Theology 


that  I  might  see  my  message  and  my  task  within  tlie 
sweep  of  vast  horizons.  There  are  intellectual  sum- 
mits to  which  we  must  climb,  whatever  the  toil,  in 
order  to  apprehend  the  gospel  in  all  its  range  and 
power. 

A  knowledge  of  the  community  also  is  necessary 
to  theological  leadership.  A  minister  must  know 
the  time  in  which  he  lives,  its  special  tendencies  and 
needs.  Thus  he  will  be  able  intelligently  to  bring 
from  his  treasury  truths  old  and  new  to  meet  the 
actual  conditions  that  obtain.  Isaiah  matched  the 
situation  with  a  doctrine.  The  Jewish  state  was 
destroyed,  it  looked  as  though  the  Jehovah  religion 
would  perish  with  it.  Then  it  was  that  the  prophet 
declared  that  Jehovah  was  no  tribal  God,  he  was 
God  of  all  nations,  the  universal  God.  We  must 
preach  the  same  God,  not  the  God  of  a  narrow  na- 
tionalism, but  the  God  of  a  new  world  order.  We 
must  meet  the  gropings  of  men  after  a  better  eco- 
nomic system  with  the  constructive  truths  of  the 
social  gospel.  The  soldiers  sometimes  spoke  in  con- 
tempt of  musty  messages  as  "  before-the-war-stuff." 
The  war  does  not  change  the  content  of  Christianity, 
but  it  does  change  the  incidence  of  its  truths.  We 
cannot  bring  those  truths  to  bear  effectively  upon 
men  and  society  unless  we  know  the  age  and  com- 
munity in  which  we  live. 

But  the  deepest  and  the  inclusive  condition  of 


Leadership  in  Theology 


269 


leadership  is  a  knowledge  of  God.  He  has  his  pur- 
poses for  mankind,  more  glorious  than  we  dare  to 
think.  He  does  not  work  blindly  and  in  the  dark. 
His  plan  is  the  expression  of  a  perfect  love  and 
wisdom,  and  all  his  resources  are  back  of  it.  We 
can  leam  his  secret  only  in  his  presence,  in  his 
light  we  see  light.  From  him  we  gain  the  wisdom 
and  the  courage  to  speak  the  message  that  he  bids 
us.    We  are  leaders  only  as  we  walk  with  God,  for 

God  is  marching  on. 

R.  M.  V. 


VII 


POWER  FOR  LEADERSHIP 


M', 


THE  history  of  civilization  is  the  record  of 
the  control  of  great  social  forces  by  master- 
ful men.    To  know  the  leaders  of  these  move- 
ments is  to  understand  their  age ;  for 

A  people  is  but  the  attempt  of  many 
To  rise  to  the  completer  life  of  one. 

Can  leaders  be  produced  at  will?  How  much  of 
their  force  of  character  is  native  endowment,  and 
how  much  the  product  of  training? 

So  far  as  power  of  leadership  is  dependent  on 
native  genius,  it  cannot  be  produced  to  order.  The 
endowment  of  ten,  five,  or  only  two  talents  is  a  mat- 
ter of  heredity.  Yet  this  is  not  without  control,  for 
two  talents  are  to  be  made  into  four  and  five  into 
ten;  and  such  results  come  through  the  self-disci- 
pline and  inspiration  which  the  schools  offer.  There 
is  not  much  difference  in  boys,  said  the  head  master 
of  Rugby  in  effect,  but  that  little  is  of  immense  im- 
portance. It  is  "  that  little  more  and  what  worlds 
away  "  which  causes  some  to  forge  to  the  front  in 
270 


Power  for  Leadership 


271 


industry  and  commerce,  in  politics,  the  army,  and 
statecraft. 

The  age  in  which  we  live  is  crying  out  for  moral 
and  religious  leaders.  What  can  our  theological 
seminaries  do  to  bring  them  forth?  Evidently, 
those  little  differences  noted  by  Thomas  Arnold 
must  be  cultivated  and  originality  encouraged. 
Powers  that  indicate  forcefulness  must  be  stimu- 
lated and  disciplined.  Inhibitions  of  timidity  and 
complaisance,  of  excessive  self-consciousness  and 
morbid  self -depreciation,  must  be  removed.  Chris- 
tian ambition,  always  compatible  with  true  hu- 
mility, must  be  aroused.  Those  who  show  qualities 
of  leadership  must  be  fortified  to  undertake  the 
risks,  share  the  early  misunderstandings,  and  as- 
sume the  burdens  which  always  attend  heroic  enter- 
prise. 

The  education  of  leaders  became  the  hobby  of 
Cecil  Rhodes,  and  in  nothing  else  did  he  so  show  his 
greatness.  Men  of  physical  stamina,  of  quick  men- 
tality, resourceful,  with  ethical  qualities  of  cour- 
age and  self-control,  were  to  be  sought  out  in  every 
land  and  brought  together  at  Oxford,  there  to  be 
developed  in  all  their  powers  for  a  many-sided 
leadership  in  their  generation.  The  details  do  not 
concern  us  here ;  the  idea  is  magnificent. 

Is  the  church  addressing  itself  to  this  task  on  a 
proper  scale?    Are  present  leaders  on  the  lookout 


■:|   ! 


•  I. 

1.  :i 


u 

V" 


272 


Power  for  Leaderfhip 


for  signs  of  talent  in  academy  and  college?  Ar 
ministers  encouraging  the  brightest  boys  and  girl 
to  study,  opening  vistas  of  useful  and  honorabl 
careers  by  which  the  kingdom  of  God  will  be  ad 
vanced?   To  fail  here  is  to  fail  fundamentally. 

When  the  human  material  has  been  found,  th 
task  of  the  educator  begins.  When  young  men  hav 
consecrated  themselves  to  the  work  of  the  Chris 
tian  ministry,  how  can  their  latent  capacities  b 
developed?  This  is  the  task,  at  once  delicate  an* 
all-important,  that  confronts  the  theological  semi 
nary;  on  its  accomplishment  all  the  studies  shouh 
converge.  The  social  life  and  the  very  atmospher 
of  the  school  should  contribute  to  leadership,  an< 
prayer  should  be  made  without  ceasing. 

What  are  the  sources  of  power  in  leadership 
They  are  many.  Through  knowledge,  through  faitl 
and  its  concomitants,  through  good-will,  througl 
consciousness  of  God's  presence  and  favor — in  sue! 
ways  comes  the  power  in  leadership  which  the  re 
ligious  needs  of  our  time  demand.  We  have  tim( 
to  develop,  in  this  address,  only  the  first  two  o 
these. 


Knowledge  is  power,  runs  the  proverb,  and  pro 
verbial  wisdom  scarcely  needs  to  be  proved.  Igno 
ranee  fetters;  truth  sets  free.    The  religious  leade: 


Power  for  Leadership 


273 


should  have  the  widest  knowledge  and  best  disci- 
pline available.  The  minister  should  be  a  specialist 
along  his  own  lines,  capable  of  holding  his  own  with 
specialists  in  other  professions.  Other  qualities  be- 
ing equal,  the  man  with  the  greatest  grasp  of  truth 
will  exert  the  widest  and  most  enduring  leadership. 
"  Be  zealous  to  show  thyself  approved  unto  God,  a 
workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly 
'dividing  the  word  of  truth."  The  man  of  God 
should  be  "thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works."  Unless  we  heed  Paul's  fervid  counsel,  our 
churches  are  doomed. 

There  should  be  knowledge,  first,  of  human  na- 
ture, for  that  is  the  material  in  which  our  leader- 
ship is  to  be  exercised.  Begin  with  yourself.  Ex- 
plore the  recesses  of  your  own  nature,  as  Stevenson 
did.    "  Know  thyself,"  as  Socrates  demanded. 

Self-reverence,  self-knowledge,  self-control. 
These  three  alone  lead  life  to  sovereign  power. 

The  study  of  psychology  should  be  lifelong,  with 
continual  side-lights  from  biography,  history, 
poetry,  and  fiction.  The  Bible  is  an  unfailing  light 
on  the  complexities  of  our  human  nature.  To  know 
one's  generation  with  a  view  to  leadership,  one  must 
immerse  oneself  in  the  current  of  its  ruling  ideas 
and  interests  as  well  as  mingle  with  all  classes  of 
people. 
S 


V  ■>}, 


1:: 

1'^ 


h  ) 


274 


Power  for  Leadership 


A  second  field  of  knowledge  is  the  gospel.  The 
leader  must  be  an  expert  in  stating  it.  The  Bible 
will  be  his  text-book  and  ail  life  his  commentary. 
He  must  know  what  sin  is  and  how  to  unmask  it. 
He  must  know  salvation  and  be  able  to  place  it 
among  the  great  realities  of  life.  He  must  know 
Jesus  intimately,  as  a  living  Friend,  and  proclaim 
his  truth  in  winsome  ways.  He  must  be  committed, 
body  and  soul,  to  the  social  program  of  Jesus.  In 
short,  doctrine  must  have  deepened  into  conviction, 
and  the  preacher  must  be  able  to  state  the  myriad- 
sided  gospel  in  ways  suited  to  the  ever-changing 
emphasis  of  the  day. 

Yet  again,  the  leader  must  be  master  of  the  art 
of  preaching.  Most  of  his  work  is  accomplished 
through  persuasion.  His  power  of  molding  public 
opinion  through  speech  is  his  chief  asset.  Now  this 
ability  comes  through  practice.  One  can  ge'  e 
principles  in  books,  but  mastery  comes  through  bv... 
discipline.  Constant  practice  is  the  only  road  to 
success.  Many  lose  power  because  they  are  too 
blind  to  their  defects  or  too  lazy  to  correct  them. 

The  minister  who  is  constantly  growing  in  knowl- 
edge— knowledge  of  human  nature,  of  the  gospel,  of 
the  art  of  persuasive  speech — is  in  the  way  of  multi- 
plying his  influence.  The  enlarging  personality  will 
exert  an  enlarging  power.  In  the  ministry,  as 
everywhere  else,  knowledge  is  power. 


Power  for  LMderihip 


J.io 


II 

Power  in  leadership  also  arises  from  faith.  Faith 
is  trust,  but  more ;  confidence,  but  more ;  belief,  but 
vastly  more.  It  is  an  attitude  of  our  whole  nature. 
And  it  is  more  than  an  attitude;  it  is  a  vital  rela- 
tion between  the  soul  of  man  and  his  Maker,  be- 
tween the  disciple  and  his  Lord. 

No  leadership  is  possible  without  faith.  The 
leadership  of  a  ward  politician,  even,  is  based  upon 
faith  of  a  sort.  Christian  leadership  is  fed  by  faith 
in  God. 

Faith  is  indispensable  to  a  Christian  leader  be- 
cause it  is  a  source  of  vision,  of  courage,  and  of  sin- 
gleness of  purpose. 

Faith  is  a  source  of  vision.  **  Without  vision  the 
people  perish,"  because  without  vision  the  leader  is 
lost  in  the  maze.  Faith  is  a  sixth  sense,  a  heighten- 
ing of  all  our  powers  so  that  intuition  is  possible. 

She  sees  the  Best  that  glimmers  through  the  Worst, 
She  finds  the  fountain  where  they  wailed  "  Mirage." 

In  our  day  faith  has  foreseen  a  saloonless  nation 
and  a  warless  world. 

Faith  is  a  source  of  courage.  The  golden  deeds 
of  chivalric  service  are  its  handiwork.  "  It  belongs 
to  the  essence  of  '  Right,*  "  says  L.  P.  Jacks,  "  to  be 
associated  with  a  certain  risk,  and  to  the  essence 


:.: 


[,  i 


276 


Power  for  Leadership 


of  the  moral  will  to  face  this  risk  and  all  it  may 
involve."  Faith  takes  chances  for  God.  Faith  will 
never  "  play  safe."  The  courage  of  our  New  En- 
gland fathers  in  facing  hardships  and  death  for 
Christ's  sake  is  typical,  and  the  memorial  at  Plym- 
outh of  their  achievements  is,  most  appropriately, 
a  symbolic  figure  of  Faith. 

Once  more,  faith  creates  singleness  of  aim.  It 
cuts  off  the  secondary  and  intensifies  the  primary 
interests.  It  concentrates  attention,  tne  sine  qua 
non  of  power.  The  power  of  the  human  will  is 
great;  and  it  is  at  its  greatest  when  faith  compels 
the  elimination  of  the  non-essential,  tiie  overlook- 
ing of  insults,  the  overleaping  of  obstacles,  the  sub- 
ordination of  the  lesser,  and  the  bringing  to  a  single 
point  of  all  the  concentrated  energies  of  being.  The 
motto  of  faith  is,  "  This  one  thing  I  do." 

How  people  respond  to  such  leadership,  the  virile 
to  the  most  virile,  the  heroic  to  the  most  heroic,  men 
of  force  to  the  man  of  greater  force!  "  I  will  dare 
lead,"  cried  the  intrepid  Israel  Putnam,  "  where  any 
dare  follow!"  Such  a  challenge  is  a  bugle-call  to 
the  faith  of  youth.  Such  leadership  will  win  leaders 
for  these  coming  days.  The  source  of  such  leader- 
ship is  faith;  for  faith  sees,  dares,  and  does.  "  The 
people  that  do  know  their  God  shall  be  strong  and 
do  exploits." 

The  theological  seminary  should  be  a  place  where 


Power  for  Leadership 


277 


every  talent  for  Christian  leadership  is  elicited  and 
developed.    Newton  is  such  a  place.    Here  there  is 
emphasis   upon  love  of  truth  and  the  scholarly 
methods  which  leaH  "^o  truth;  here  the  world-field  is 
envisaged,  courage  grows,  and  Christlike  purpose 
is  crystallized;  here  faith  is  fed  by  prayer  and  the 
conscious  presence  of  God  empowers  for  service. 
The  noble  tradition  of  the  Seminary  as  a  mother 
of  leaders  in  the  missionary,  educational,  and  pas- 
toral fields  is  maintained.    The  graduate  of  today, 
as  a  trained  harvester,  goes  out  into  the  white  fields 
at  home  or  abroad  glad  to  subscribe  himself,  like 
Paul,  as  "  the  bondservant  of  Christ "  and  as  "  your 
servant  for  Jesus'  sake."    In  these  thrilling  days  of 
healing  the  world's  wounds  and  rebuilding  the  tis- 
sues of  life,  the  old  school  on  the  hill  is  prepared  to 
train  and  inspire  young  men  for  leadership.   In  this 
work  we  count  on  your  prayers;  do  not  fail  us! 

W.B. 


'■y: 


